The UN should be given a central role in Iraq as soon as possible, to avert a slide into greater anarchy and halt the US-led forces' "sheer disregard" for civilians and holy sites, an emergency meeting of Muslim states in Kuala Lumpur declared yesterday.

Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) chairman Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (C) attends the opening ceremony of a special meeting on the Middle East in Putrajaya. The world's Muslim nations urged the United States to drop its support for the latest Israeli plan for the Palestinian territories. (AFP/Jimin Lai)

The Organisation of Islamic Conferences also condemned Washington for supporting Israel's latest Palestinian initiative.

The Malaysian prime minister, Abdullah Badawi, who is the OIC's current chairman, said George Bush's abandonment of the road map to peace could "wreck the entire peace process in the Middle East".

Describing the situation in Iraq and Israel as "extremely alarming", Mr Badawi said: "The latest developments are threatening the stability and integrity of both, as well as the peace and security of neighbouring countries."

About 20 of the 57 OIC members are at the hastily arranged meeting. In their final statement they said: "We recognise and stress the importance of the United Nations in playing a central role to establish peace, security and stability in Iraq.

"We urge the security council to adopt a resolution in due course which will effectively empower the United Nations with the necessary mandate and authority to ensure the achievement of this goal."

The UN left Iraq last October after its Baghdad headquarters was twice bombed.

Mr Badawi said the US-led administration in Iraq had failed to meet "the hopes and expectations" of the international community.

"Gone are the joy and jubilation of some Iraqis [at] the collapse of the regime of Saddam Hussein," he said. "What we see today is nothing less than the fierce resistance of people against what is increasingly seen as an occupation force."

Washington's relations with Islamic states, already upset by events in Iraq, have taken a turn for the worse since Mr Bush endorsed Ariel Sharon's proposal to withdraw Israeli forces and settlements from the Gaza Strip but intensify its occupation of the West Bank.

King Abdullah of Jordan has cancelled a visit to Washington, and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt said this week that Arabs held a "hatred never equalled" towards America.

A separate OIC statement on the Middle East said that its members "strongly reject the recent unilateral plan of withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank, as it breaches the resolutions of international legitimacy [and] contradicts ... the foundations of the peace process".

© Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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