by Ali Khalil and Christophe de Roquefeuil
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, July 29 (AFP) - US and Iraqi officials said here Thursday they were discussing a Saudi proposal to dispatch Arab or Muslim troops to Iraq, either as part of the US-led multinational force or separately.
"We discussed the Saudi initiative. It is an interesting idea, a welcome idea from the Saudi government as to how to generate additional Muslim forces to participate in the work in Iraq," US Secretary of State Colin Powell told a joint news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
Powell said such a force would be sent to Iraq "either as part of the coalition or as a separate organisation that would be within the framework of the coalition effort, but would be there perhaps to provide security facilities or provide protection to the United Nations."
The US top diplomat, in Saudi Arabia as part of a Middle East and European tour, said the proposals were at an early stage but had been "welcomed" by the US which would be "examining them in the next few days."
Both Powell and Allawi said that Iraq's immediate neighbours would not be asked to participate in such a deployement.
"For a variety of reasons, it was decided that it would be better if the neighbours of Iraq did not participate in the effort," Powell said.
Powell and Allawi were speaking following talks in the Saudi Red Sea City of Jeddah. Allawi is also on a tour of the Middle East, his first since taking office on June 28, in a bid to normalise ties with Iraq's Arab neighbours.
Allawi also stressed that the force would not include troops from neighbouring Arab countries.
"We will study the suggestion and we continue to discuss it with leaders of Arab and Muslim states, excluding neighbouring countries, to participate in the multinational force," the Iraqi premier said.
"I've written to Arab and Muslim leaders ... I will talk to a few of them in the next few days to establish some common ground," added Allawi.
Powell said Riyadh had "indicated some conditions would have to be met... with respect to the chain of command, arrangements with respect to what the troops would be doing and is it an offset to existing troops in the coalition."
According to Powell, "many" Muslim countries have been considering participating in the force.
"Many of them said they needed to see a UN mandate. Now there is a UN mandate under (Security Council Resolution) 1546. They also said they wished to see a sovereign government. There is a sovereign government that is up and running," the US official stressed.
A senior US official accompanying Powell said the idea was not to replace the current US-led multinational force comprising troops from some 30 countries, but to have a "supplemental" force.
However, a senior Saudi official, speaking on condition of anonymity, hinted that Riyadh saw Muslim troops as a potential replacement for some of the US and other Western forces deployed in Iraq, under sustained attack by insurgents.
The replacement of some of the coalition troops would be positively perceived in the Islamic world, he told reporters.
However, two Pakistani hostages were executed on Wednesday by an Islamist group accusing them of working for US troops in Iraq and demanding Pakistan rescind statements about possibly sending troops to the country.
Powell is due to visit Kuwait, Bosnia and Poland after Saudi Arabia.
Allawi too will stop off in Kuwait as well as in the United Arab Emirates.
Riyadh and Baghdad agreed during Allawi's visit to restore diplomatic ties between their two countries, cut off 13 years ago.
However, both Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal and Allawi suggested Riyadh's reopening of its embassy in Baghdad hinged on the security situation improving. Allawi said Iraq would reopen its embassy in the kingdom, without saying when.
Ties with Riyadh were broken off by then president Saddam Hussein's regime during the 1991 Gulf War when US-led forces used Saudi Arabia as a springboard to free neighbouring Kuwait from Iraqi occupation.