Omar Salahuddin, Special to Arab News

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, 14 October 2003 — The idea of putting together a Muslim peacekeeping force to stabilize Iraq met with a cool reception at an Islamic summit here yesterday.

Hoshyar Zebari, foreign minister of the US-picked Iraqi Governing Council, told reporters it would welcome contributions from countries attending a summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in Malaysia that would help stabilize Iraq.

“But the indications we are getting here so far are not that encouraging. I don’t think there is any desire by the Muslim countries to send troops,” he said.

Most Muslim countries have rejected the idea of sending peacekeepers to Iraq without at least a UN stamp of approval.

“The sentiment of this meeting is that stability should come as soon as possible in Iraq,” Musa Braiza, a Jordanian representative, said. The countries “will do anything possible and everything positive. But the question of forces is now not on the agenda.”

In Singapore, Jordan’s King Abdallah said Iraq’s neighbors such as his country or Turkey should not get involved. “No border country should play an active role because all have an agenda,” he told reporters.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri said Muslim countries would be reluctant to contribute to peacekeeping forces without a UN mandate. “First, there has to be a United Nations cover,” Kasuri said. “When you have a United Nations cover, then you will see other Muslims go with us.”

The exception is Turkey, which has offered to send peacekeepers.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, who chaired yesterday’s discussions, said an OIC peacekeeping force was unlikely because “the OIC is not an organization that is a military bloc, neither is our charter formatted to allow us to form an OIC force to operate.”