The fall of Baghdad evoked mixed responses from the Arab world, ranging from optimism to fears about the future of the region, said a report today.

A Bernama/DPA report said Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak urged the coalition forces to everything in their power to restore order and stabilise security in the city of five million.

He also called o­n US and Britain to immediately begin the process of installing a transitional government comprising Iraqis.

Fears of occupation

The president's remarks reflected the concern of the Arab world that the invading forces may attempt to prolong their military and political presence in Iraq.

The region's governments also hoped that the interim administration the US and Britain intend to establish under the leadership of retired US General Jay Garner ( photo ) would be short-lived in order to dispel fears about an 'occupation'.

"We have to move as soon as possible to a transitional government," said Hosny, whose government is a key US ally in the region.

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal agreed that the US-led administration should be brief and stressed that the Iraqis must be allowed to manage their own affairs.

He also made it clear that Saudi would o­nly recognise a government made up of Iraqis."The government that we shall deal with will be the government chosen by the Iraqi people."

In Bahrain, King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa focused o­n the humanitarian situation in Iraq and said the suffering of there "ought to end and we have a duty as their brothers to support them."

Anti-US sentiment

The report said televison channels in the region had repeatedly shown graphic images of the war, especially of Iraqis injured by coalition strikes.

This stoked anti-US sentiments and cast doubts o­n Washington's claim that this war was to liberate the Iraqi people from the shackles of a cruel regime.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Mrwan al-Maasher warned against tampering with Iraq's territorial integrity in the ensuing confusion created by the power vacuum after the collapse of Saddam Hussein's government.

"We are concerned about the unity and safety of Iraq and its people," he was quoted as saying.

The developments in Baghdad also saw the region's newspapers churning out their views and opinions o­n the matter.

"The war was easy and the fall of Baghdad was easier," according to Jordan's al-Arab

newspaper, which blamed Arab helplessness for the capture of the Iraqi capital.

Lebanon's al-Nahar newspaper proclaimed that "it was not the Iraqi people and Baghdad residents who were defeated, but rather Saddam Hussein and his henchmen."

Frightening reality

While United Arab Emirates' al-Khaleej newspaper expressed concern that following the departure of Saddam, Iraqis could find themselves facing a new and more frightening reality - that of an occupation.

The paper forecast a new reality of "an occupation that could continue for a long time", saying that there was o­nly a "thin" and sometimes "invisible line" between "tyranny and colonialism".

These fears can o­nly be removed if the UN and not the US and Britain assumes the leading role in post-war Iraq, according to Syria's 26th September newspaper.

With the exception of Syria, Algeria and Tunisia, all Arab national television stations broadcasted live the toppling of a large Saddam statue in Baghdad o­n Wednesday.

However, viewers in the region twitched in discomfort when an US marine draped the Stars and Stripes around the statue's face.

"For some this symbolised the fall of the regime, for others it was viewed as another Arab humiliation," said the report.