Kuala Lumpur, Sept 07: Iraq will not attend the 10th Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) leaders' summit to be held in Malaysia next month, Malaysian foreign minister Syed Hamid Albar said today. "There'll be no representative from Iraq attending the summit because the country is still under occupation," he said.
"As long as Iraq is not in the hands of Iraqis, its leaders are not legitimately elected by Iraqis, until then its seat in the OIC will remain vacant," he said.
Syed Hamid, however, said the OIC credentials committee would study Iraq's position on whether its seat could be occupied by the temporary government or its cabinet members.
Iraq's transitional governing council recently announced a new 25-member post-war interim government until elections are held next year.
The new cabinet is divided up among the country's various communities, with 13 ministries going to Muslim Shiites, five to Sunnis, five to Kurds, one to Turkmen and one to the Christians.
However, Syed Hamid said Malaysia would not recognise the council as it was not set up by Iraqis.
Malaysia would confine its diplomatic relations with the country only to humanitarian assistance, he said.
"We'll only recognise the Iraqi government after it is duly elected by the Iraqis and not by the occupying forces," he was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.
Bureau Report