JEDDAH, April 27: US-led forces must leave Iraq as soon as possible, the secretary general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) said on Sunday.

“Islamic efforts must unite to defend Iraq’s interests and ... insist on the need for the departure of foreign forces from Iraq as soon as possible,” Abdulwahed Belkeziz said at the opening session of a meeting of senior employees of the 57-nation pan-Islamic body at its headquarters here.

“The Iraqi people must govern themselves ... Iraq’s natural resources belong to the Iraqi people alone, who are fully entitled to manage and exploit them according to their interests,” he said, referring to the country’s oil wealth.

Mr Belkeziz said the United Nations should have “the central role in running Iraqi internal and external affairs in the transitional period, as well as a vital role in all arrangements pertaining to the exploitation of its natural resources”.

He stressed that Organization of the Islamic Conference member states too should have a major input in “defending the rights of the Iraqi people” and make a significant contribution to the reconstruction of the war-ravaged country. —AFP