arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ The effort to ensure Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction should not be confused with any campaign to oust Saddam Hussein, Belgium said Monday, offering its first official explanation why it refused to allow Iraqi opposition groups to meet there

The United States has repeatedly urged the groups to forge a united front and to develop plans for governing their nation if Saddam is overthrown.

But Foreign Minister Louis Michel said such a meeting would have put Belgium in an awkward position, noting the new U.N. resolution on weapons inspections doesn't say there should be an end to Saddam's rule.

"The resolution does not speak about regime change. The resolution speaks about weapons," Michel said.

"We should all make intensive efforts in order to convince the Iraqi authorities to accept the resolution and to grasp this last chance in order to prevent any violent action," Michel added.

Six exiled opposition groups had planned to meet under U.S. auspices in Belgium this month to discuss their possible role in toppling Saddam.

But last week, the organizers announced the conference was being moved from Brussels to Britain because of "a negative response" from Belgium. The meeting is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 10-11.

Michel said Belgium was also concerned the meeting would not have included representatives from all Iraqi opposition factions.

The Iraqi opposition is deeply split along sectarian, ethnic, clan and political lines. The rivalries have grown more intense with the prospect of a U.S.-led war to oust Saddam.

The six groups planning to meet are the Constitutional Monarchist Movement, led by a first cousin of the last Iraqi king; the Iraqi National Accord; the Iraqi National Congress; the Kurdistan Democratic Party; the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan; and the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a Shiite group.
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