RIYADH, Marsh 5: A delegation of Arab foreign ministers has left for New York in a last-minute bid to stave off the war against Iraq.

The delegation is expected to confer with the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday to set out strong opposition to the US war plans against Iraq. They will also reportedly meet the UN chief arms inspector Hans Blix and IAEA chief Mohamad Al-Bardei before making their next move.

The Arab League has sent the delegation in the light of the decision taken at the Sharm El-Sheikh Arab summit and it consists of the foreign ministers of Egypt, Bahrain, Lebanon and Tunisia, besides the Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa.

The delegation is later expected to go to Baghdad and consult with Iraqi officials, including possibly President Saddam Hussein, on ways of pre-empting the war. With this initiative, the Arab world wants to present a last moment peaceful alternative to the war against Iraq.

In the meantime, Saudi Arabia has taken ‘all precautionary measures’ to ensure that no Iraqi refugee enters the country in case of a war against Iraq, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Naif has said. Other Arab states are also taking measures to stem a possible inflow of refuges, in case of a war.

During the 1991 Gulf war, Saudi Arabia was host to a large number of refugees from Kuwait and Iraq, including both Kuwaitis and expatriates living in Kuwait and Iraq. The Saudi-Iraqi border city of Hafr-al-Batin was faced with a huge influx of refugees.

Some Saudi newspapers have in the meantime speculated that the nabbing of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in Pakistan at this time could be used by the US to link Baghdad with Al Qaeda.