09 May 2004	Sunday	18 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

BAGHDAD, May 8: A pan-religious group was formed on Saturday to oppose the occupation of Iraq and immediately called for a meeting with UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi in a direct challenge to the country's US-appointed leadership.

Some 500 Iraqis met in Baghdad to set up a rival political force free of US influence to push for a handover of sovereignty under the auspices of the United Nations.

The United Iraqi Scholars Group - which appointed a 16-strong leadership panel - has vowed to boycott any political group set up by the United States and called for a stronger army than the small force envisioned by Washington.

After a five-hour conference, the group said its agenda was based on "legitimate resistance to end the occupation" and keeping Iraq united.

The group of moderate Shia and Sunnis as well as Kurds also demanded the US-appointed Governing Council be sidelined.

The Governing Council is the Iraqi leadership operating within the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), but power firmly remains with the United States as it holds the purse strings and controls the military.

Sheikh Jawad al Khalisi, a senior Shia figure who will head the group, said it wanted the handover of power to Iraqis on June 30 "done under the umbrella of the United Nations and not the CPA".

The demands came as UN special envoy Brahimi struck a conciliatory note with the Governing Council during a meeting in Baghdad, saying he wanted to work with them ahead of the June 30 shift of power.

The council's Shia members in particular object to the UN's direct involvement in planning the country's next government, and Mr Brahimi's belief that a post-June 30 interim government should comprise technocrats.

Dr Muthana Harith al-Dhari, spokesman of the Muslim Scholars Association, said: "We will inform Mr Brahimi about our total rejection of the Governing Council which we consider as being designed by the occupation."

The United Iraqi Scholars Group was formed after eight months of planning and the meeting in Baghdad included representatives of 35 parties. -AFP