KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 10: Malaysia said on Friday that Muslims should take responsibility for peacekeeping in Iraq, but only under the command of the United Nations.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, speaking on the eve of an Islamic summit, said Muslim countries should not send troops to help the US-led coalition.

“You cannot have peacekeepers from countries which are not Muslim,” Syed Hamid told a news conference before the eight-day meeting of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Malaysia’s new administrative capital, Putrajaya.

“It must be done under the umbrella of the UN. We cannot take part if it is still under the United States,” he said.

Syed Hamid said that Turkey, a Muslim neighbour of Iraq, was a special case. When pressed about Turkey’s potential involvement, he replied: “I think the Iraqis are not happy.”—Reuters