CAIRO, March 24: Arab foreign ministers on Monday condemned the “aggression” against Iraq and called for the “immediate withdrawal” of US and British forces from the country, at the end of a meeting in Egypt’s capital.

A final resolution issued after the meeting “condemns the US-British aggression against Iraq” and called for “the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the invasion forces”.

It also calls on “all Arab states to abstain from participating in any military action damaging to the unity and territorial integrity of Iraq or any other Arab country”.

The secretary general of the 22-member Arab League, Amr Mussa, told reporters the resolution was adopted unanimously, except for Kuwait which expressed reservations.

Kuwait, the springboard for the invasion of Iraq launched last Thursday, “wanted the statement to include a clause”, he said, without elaborating.

But Kuwait’s delegate to the Arab League, Ahmed Kulaib, had said Saturday that his country would request that the ministers also condemn the Iraqi missile attacks on the emirate.

The final statement, read out by Libya’s minister of African unity, Ali Triki, said the US-led attack on Iraq was “in violation of the UN charter ... and in defiance of the international community”.

The Arab ministers said they would task their representatives at the United Nations “to request an urgent meeting of the Security Council so as to stop the aggression and secure an immediate withdrawal”.

Iraq’s Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said Kuwait had not sided with the rest of its Arab counterparts because the emirate was taking part in the war on its northern neighbour.

“Only one country, one which is taking part in the aggression against Iraq, did not accept this resolution ... and that’s the government of Kuwait,” Sabri told journalists.

Kuwait expressed reservations “because it is taking part in the aggression by granting facilities for the US-British aggression”, he said, adding that the invasion forces were granted access to two-thirds of Kuwaiti territory.

Stark divisions between pro-US and radical governments resurfaced at the meeting, with some members demanding an end to the US-led invasion.

Qatar’s Foreign Minister Hamad Bin Jassem Al-Thani pulled out of the meeting as it was discussing the strongly-worded draft resolution opposing the invasion of Iraq and calling for an immediate withdrawal of US and British forces.

“I think these meetings are not useful, they are organised to appease the Arab public opinion,” he said, while stressing that his departure from Cairo was prompted by “a prior commitment,” not disagreement.

“What matters is ending the crisis, not publishing useless communiques,” he also told reporters. —AFP