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Exiles agree on post-Saddam Iraq
LONDON, England -- Leaders of Iraqi opposition groups have ended a conference in London with an agreement to form a transitional government in Iraq in the event Saddam Hussein is ousted. After four days of talks in London, opponents of the Iraqi president adopted a political declaration calling for a democratic and federal Iraq. They also reached a consensus on the makeup of a standing committee that would take control in the event of Saddam's downfall. Dissident leaders and U.S. President George W. Bush's envoy to the exiles, Zalmay Khalilzad, said the conference had offered new hope for Iraqis determined to change Saddam's three-decade long rule of the embattled Arab country. Khalilzad in a statement obtained by The Associated Press: "People said they couldn't to do it but they did... you have to give them the benefit of the doubt and say it is a positive step in the right direction." Ahmed Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress, said exiles would reconvene on January 15 in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq to decide on the committee's leadership. The meeting is expected to take place in Irbil. About 300 delegates agreed earlier on Tuesday to expand the number of seats on the proposed standing committee from 50 to 65, in a bid to appease Iraqi exiles calling for a greater say in shaping the future of their country. CNN's Jim Bittermann said: "Their plans are for a pluralistic society... headed by the standing committee of 65 members as they try to include every Iraqi ethnic group and ensure they are given rights. "For a transitional period they plan to set up a three-man sovereignty council, which would be like a presidency, and a national council that would act like a legislation. But this is contingent on there being a war in Iraq and Saddam being overthrown." Bittermann added that the opposition groups will also have to consider Kurdish autonomy and the role of Shiite Muslims who make up 65 percent of the Iraqi population. Five of the smaller Iraqi Shi'ite groups at the meeting, held in a London hotel, walked out alleging that the largest Shi'ite party wanted to dominate the committee. The closing day of the conference was marred by intense lobbying, debate and dealing over the controversial issue of who should sit on the leadership body. A key sticking point had been whether a single Iranian-based Shi'ite Muslim opposition group -- the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq -- should exclusively represent Iraq's majority Shi'ites, whose politics range from liberal to Islamist, The Associated Press reported. Sunni Arabs, while a minority in Iraq, have controlled politics and the military in the country for decades and had complained the numerically superior Shi'ites and Kurds had dominated the London talks. Sheik Jamal al-Wakil, the head of the Islamic Accord Organization which walked out of the meeting, the, told reporters: "We refuse to accept the resolution which will be passed by this conference which will give only one group ultimate control over Iraqi Shi'ites." "This is another dictatorship that we reject." The exiles had quickly reached agreement on a number of issues after the five-day conference opened on Friday -- accepting that a transitional government should be formed to replace Saddam if he is toppled and that 49 current Iraqi regime officials -- including Saddam and his two sons -- should face trial for war crimes. They also listed others who should be granted amnesty. Copyright 2002 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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