CAIRO, Nov 8 (AFP) - Envoys have agreed on a compromise text to be submitted to an Iraq conference in Egypt later this month after three days of wrangling pitting France against the United States, a diplomat who took part in the discussions told AFP Monday.
The new draft refers to the US-led troop presence in Iraq as "temporary" but falls short of French calls for a timetable for its withdrawal, the diplomat said.
The conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh from November 22-23 is to bring together Iraq's interim government with officials from neighbouring countries, the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations, the United Nations, the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
The preparatory discussions between ambassadors of the participating countries proved intense with one session lasting five hours and continuing late into the night, the diplomat said.
France had already abandoned earlier calls for all Iraqi factions which renounced violence to be invited to the gathering, after it was agreed that a separate meeting would be held for them ahead of elections planned for January.
With a major assault on the Iraqi rebel enclave of Fallujah imminent, US delegates also insisted on the removal of any condemnation of violence against civilians, the diplomat said.
The compromise text calls only for "restraint" to be exercised.
After talks with his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit Monday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said he expected the conference to give "clear international backing for the transfer of sovereignty to an elected government and the process of political stabilisation in Iraq."
11/08/2004 15:47 GMT - AFP