Omar Salahuddin, Special to Arab News

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, 15 October 2003 — Muslim countries yesterday gave a guarded welcome to a revised US resolution on Iraq, but are likely to demand a “definite and clear timetable” for the occupation to end.

“I think the important thing is that there is an end date, which is better than an open-ended situation,” said Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar. He was referring to a Dec. 15 deadline in the resolution for the Iraqis to set a schedule for writing a constitution and holding elections.

At the same time, the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference was preparing a resolution of its own for presentation by heads of state attending the summit beginning tomorrow.

A draft of the resolution says “the United Nations should play a central role in Iraq, covering all aspects of transition: political, security and economic.

“In this regard (the OIC) calls on the Security Council to take the necessary measures for setting a defined and clear timetable for the withdrawal of the occupying powers from Iraq as soon as possible.”

A suggestion circulating at the conference that the OIC should send a contingent of Muslim peacekeepers to Iraq was dismissed at a news conference by Syed Hamid, who said the OIC was not a military bloc.

Asked about the fact that member state Turkey had agreed to send troops to help US forces, a move opposed by most other countries represented here, Syed Hamid said: “It is not the function of the OIC to stop any member country that wants to get to work in Iraq.” Turkey’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said that his country would send troops into Iraq for peacekeeping efforts for no more than one year.

The minister defended Turkey’s decision to send troops and said Muslim countries should stop criticizing the move and start taking active steps to help Iraq. “The OIC countries will just talk and criticize, while others will become involved,” said Gul.

The head of Jordan’s delegation of senior officials, Musa Braizat, told reporters: “If this is a serious and genuine move and if implemented in good faith, and if conditions are conducive to the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty, it will be good for the Iraqi people and the region and for the Muslim world.”

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mahmood Kasuri said: “Anything which encourages sovereignty for the people of Iraq is a positive thing, but I don’t know how far the terms of this idea go. Our permanent representative (at the UN) will look at this.”

After two days of talks, the foreign ministers agreed to recognize the US-picked Iraqi Governing Council as the legitimate representative of the Iraqi people. The draft statement will “welcome the establishment of an interim government.”