LONDON, April 11: The United States has invited Iraqi opposition representatives to a meeting near Nasiriyah, in southern Iraq, on Tuesday, a spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress and US officials said on Friday.

“I received an invitation from Tommy Franks,” the US general directing the operations in Iraq, to the meeting at a military base outside Nasiriyah, said spokesman Sharif Ali bin al-Hussein.

“There will be one representative from each (Iraqi opposition) political movement only,” he added.

In Washington, the US State Department confirmed that a US delegation would be in Nasiriyah for talks with the Iraqi opposition on Tuesday.

The main Iraqi opposition groups include the US-backed Iraqi National Congress (INC), the Iraqi National Accord (INA), the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the Al-Dawa party, the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (DPK), and the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI).

“It will be one meeting of many that will be conducted in the future all over Iraq,” Al-Hussein said.

Earlier on Friday, a military spokeswoman at the US headquarters in Qatar said a “meeting will be held in the near future in southern Iraq”.

Representatives “from across all of Iraqi society, including expatriates”, will attend the gathering that will be facilitated by the US Central Command (Centcom), said spokeswoman Major Rumi Nielson-Green.

Asked about INC leader Ahmad Chalabi — widely tipped to become the next leader of Iraq and backed by the Pentagon — Al-Hussein said no decision would be taken yet on the leadership.

“No decision will be taken there. It will be an exchange of views. We are far away from choosing the interim leader of the Iraqi authority,” he said.

“It will be a platform for Iraqis inside the country to express their views for the first time,” he said.

Retired US general Jay Garner is due to take up the post of head of an interim administration for Iraq in the coming days.—AFP