Kuwait meeting will back drive to disarm militias

Kuwait: Arab nations, the United States and other G8 countries meeting in Kuwait on Tuesday will back Iraq's drive to disarm militias and urge more diplomatic missions be opened in Baghdad, according to a draft statement.

The meeting, to be attended by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, follows gatherings of Iraq's neighbours and major powers held in Turkey and Egypt last year that sought ways to stabilise Iraq.

A draft of a statement to be issued today at the meeting said participants "welcome the Iraqi government's commitment to disarm and dismantle all militias and illegally armed groups, enforcing the rule of law, and ensuring the state's monopoly on armed forces."

The statement also urged the "maintaining or opening of diplomatic missions in Iraq".

Iraq wants Arab countries to beef up their presence in Baghdad.

Al Maliki is in the midst of a high-stakes showdown with anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militia has fought pitched battles in recent weeks with security forces in Baghdad and also the south of the country.

The prime minister has threatened to ban Al Sadr's mass movement from political life unless he disbands the militia. On Saturday, Al Sadr threatened all-out war on security forces.

Washington accuses Iran of equipping, training and funding rogue elements of the Mahdi Army.

Rare visits

Iran - whose foreign minister will be at the meeting - denies the charge and blames the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 for the violence and instability in the country.

Both Al Maliki and Rice are expected to urge Arab countries at the meeting to make good on promises to either open embassies or expand missions they have in Baghdad, and to send ambassadors.

No ambassador from an Arab country is stationed permanently in Baghdad and visits by top officials from Arab states are rare. By contrast, Iran has an ambassador in Iraq and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Baghdad last month. Washington has long urged Arab states to beef up embassies in Baghdad to signal support for Al Maliki' s government and to blunt the influence Iran has in the country.

Iraq is an Arab nation while Iran's roots are Persian.

Both countries have majority Shiite populations.

Arab states, which regard Iran with suspicion, have been reluctant to extend full legitimacy to Iraq's US-backed government, Iraqi officials say.

Arab governments say they are concerned about security.

Egypt, whose ambassador to Iraq was kidnapped and killed in 2005, said it would not send an envoy until security conditions improved.

Many Arab diplomats have also stayed away from Baghdad since a suicide car bomber attacked the Jordanian embassy in August 2003, killing 17 people.

The draft also condemned all acts of terrorism in Iraq and pledged support for Al Maliki's government's efforts to counter militants and prevent them from using Iraq as a base.