LONDON, Dec 17: Leaders of Iraqi dissident groups reached agreement here on Tuesday on plans for a post-Saddam era.

Dissidents agreed to close ranks and form a joint 65-member body, adopting a political declaration calling for a democratic and federal Iraq after Saddam’s downfall. The opposition also adopted a document outlining principles of a transition period that would follow.

Zalmay Khalilzad, Washington’s representative for regime change in Iraq, was at the final session of the conference.—AFP