Two opposition leaders today urged foreign dignitaries attending the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Kuala Lumpur to call for a diplomatic solution to the Iraq crisis and also pleaded for international "understanding" for their campaign against the continued incarceration of former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim.

Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) president Dr Syed Husin Ali highlighted their concerns in a joint press statement after their attempts to meet with delegates during the five-day conference proved futile.

"We wish to state that we fully support NAM and the noble objectives and principles established by its founding fathers...Unfortunately, being opposition parties, we have been completely excluded from all events of the conference," they said.

On the impending war o­n Iraq , the two leaders called for the summit to endorse an initiative to resolve the crisis peacefully via the United Nations and to deplore "US belligerence against Iraq".

They stressed that NAM should "support an independent Iraq, free from foreign interference in any effort by its people to establish a sovereign, just and democratic government".