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Arab League meets with Iraqi opposition leader
( 2002-12-03 10:28 ) (7 )

The Arab League's secretary-general has met with an Iraqi opposition leader, Arab diplomats said Monday, describing an unusual move by the head of an organization that is wary of meddling in the internal affairs of its members.

Saturday's meeting between Arab League chief Amr Moussa and Omar Boutani, a member of the central committee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, came as the Kurdish group and other Iraqi opposition groups are planning a meeting this month to map out a strategy for governing if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) is toppled by the United States for his alleged stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction.

The diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press, said both Moussa and Boutani, who also acts as a special envoy for Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Masoud Barzani, discussed the possibility of a U.S. military strike against Iraq.

The diplomats, who closely watch Iraqi affairs from Cairo, said Boutani briefed Moussa on recent efforts by exiled opposition groups to create a unified front against Saddam. They said Boutani, whose movement shares control of northern Iraq with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, assured Moussa that Kurds have no plans to break away from Iraq.

The meeting, unlike most of Moussa's official activities, was not publicized. Moussa's spokesman, Hisham Youssef, rejected the diplomats' characterization of the meeting and would provide no details. Boutani was no longer in Cairo Monday and officials at Kurdistan Democratic Party headquarters in London did not immediately return phone calls requesting comment.

Traditionally, the 22-member Arab League shies away from internal Arab disputes and rarely criticizes member governments.

Since taking office in 2001 Moussa, a plainspoken former Egyptian foreign minister, has tried to assert the league as an effective regional group.

Last year he angered Morocco when he proposed a league role in the dispute with Algeria over the western Sahara conflict. But he won praise from Sudan for his effort to involve Arabs in its efforts to end the war with the rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Army. Morocco, Algeria and Sudan all are league members.

In a related development in Kuwait Monday, Jalal Talabani, who heads the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, met with Kuwait's deputy prime minister Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Saba. The official Kuwaiti news agency quoted Sheik Sabah as saying the government invited Talabani for "consultations" about the "situation in the area

The discussions with Iraqi Kurdish leaders come amid diplomatic efforts to arrange an emergency Arab summit that would deal primarily with a possible war between Iraq and the United States.

Youssef, the Arab League spokesman, said consultations with Arab governments are underway to decide if the emergency meeting can be convened before a regular Arab summit scheduled in Bahrain in March.

Arab diplomats said Qatar, which proposed the emergency summit, wants Arabs to unify their strategy toward Iraq and work to save the region from the instability and political turmoil many fear would be the result of a U.S. war with Iraq.