Forty-eight Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) members including Iraq held crisis talks here today as US President George W Bush warned o­nly full disarmament could prevent a war o­n Baghdad.

Fifteen heads of government joined the special session called by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad immediately after the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit here, which rejected any war without UN approval.

Qatar, which had previously objected to the informal meeting ahead of an emergency IOC summit in Doha next week, was represented by Prime Minister Abdullah bin Khalifa Al-Thani.

UN Security council members Syria and Pakistan were also present, two days after the United States, Britain and Spain submitted a new resolution o­n Iraq.

Ironing out problems

Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan told the 116-nation NAM summit o­n Tuesday that Baghdad was determined to iron out all problems over its alleged banned arms.

"Iraq is determined to continue its efforts to help with verification of all problems if (the UN) requests details," he said.

However, Ramadan also condemned Washington for "seeking world domination and a policy of using force against Iraq, using all the means of coercion and persecution at their disposal to impose their rule over the country".

NAM, which wrapped up late yesterday, had condemned Bush's "axis of evil" description of its members Iraq, Iran and North Korea, but urged Baghdad to cooperate actively with inspectors searching for banned weapons of mass destruction.

'War my last choice'

Meanwhile Bush, the target of a series of vitriolic attacks at the NAM summit, said a second United Nations Security Council resolution was not a prerequisite for war.

The US leader predicted that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein would seek to avert military action by offering piecemeal cooperation with UN disarmament demands and asserted that the world must not let him keep "gaming the system".

"We expect the Security Council to honor its word by insisting that Saddam disarm. Now is the time," he said, amid a diplomatic blitz to win support for the new measure.

Asked what would avert US-led military action to strip Baghdad of any weapons of mass destruction, Bush replied: "There's o­nly o­ne thing, that's full disarmament."

"War is my last choice. That's why I've said all along I would hope that the world would come together to convince Saddam to make the decision to disarm," the president said after meeting with his national economic council in Washington.

Kuwait, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, which border Iraq, were all present at Wednesday's meeting, with Iran represented by President Mohammad Khatami.

The informal gathering here precedes an emergency session of the 57-member OIC in Qatar o­n March 5. AFP