RIYADH, Feb 5: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said on Wednesday that Arab countries must be given a last chance to intervene on behalf of Baghdad to prevent a war in the event of a new UN resolution authorising the use of force against Iraq.

“Even if the UN Security Council adopts a resolution to mandate a war, God forbid, Arab countries must be granted a last chance and a time extension to undertake mediation and intervene” on behalf of Iraq, Prince Saud told a press conference in the Saudi capital.

“The Security Council is not an authority charged with granting permits to go to war but rather a body called upon to seek peaceful solutions to safeguard security, peace and stability in the world,” he said.

“World peace and security will not be able to be guaranteed without safeguarding the territorial stability and integrity of all countries, including Iraq.”

The prince urged the Security Council to “study all aspects of the Iraqi crisis.”

Prince Saud warned of the “dangers of breaking up Iraq, should there be war.

“War and disorder could give place to three or four mini-states that will fight amongst themselves for power in Iraq and its riches and these regions would become refugees for international terrorism,” he said.

The prince said his recent tour of Britain, France and the United States was aimed at “examining the ways of preventing war and avoiding disastrous fallout for the region.”

In another development, Prince Saud cast doubt on the credibility of a decision to bring forward an Arab summit on Iraq and change its location from Bahrain to Egypt.

“The fact of having advanced the date of the summit and having transferred it (from Manama to Cairo), without clear justifications, does not lend it the credibility it aspires to,” Prince Saud.

“We have received the proposal on the transfer and change of the summit date. My government is in the process of studying it at the highest level,” he said, adding he did not know the reasons for bringing the summit forward.

Bahrain announced on Tuesday that the annual summit initially planned in Manama for March 24 would be transferred to Cairo, and backed a call for it to be held earlier in view of the looming war in Iraq.

An Arab League official said Wednesday that Arab leaders will hold a summit on the Iraq crisis in mid-March at the League headquarters in Cairo.

“The Arab League has accepted that the summit should convene in Cairo, the expected date is mid-March,” the official said.

TURKEY: Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Wednesday his government would give reluctant but full backing to the United States over Iraq when parliament votes on opening its bases to U.S. troops on Feb 18.