SOURCES

Leaders of Islamic countries Wednesday threw their support behind an initiative by France and Germany to avert war on Iraq and said they were considering using their oil to exert pressure on those in favor of an attack.

Fifty Muslim countries met on Wednesday following the 13th (NAM) Summit. Those states had discussed using oil as a weapon to avert a possible US-led aggression against Iraq, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Wednesday.

There was no agreement on using the oil weapon, but there was consensus on thinking of using the oil weapon -- "on what we are all agreed," Mahathir said after an informal meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

Participants in Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit praised a resolution presented at the United Nations this week by France and Germany that suggests giving the UN weapons inspectors another four months to do their work in Iraq.

“We should make common cause with countries that are against war in Iraq, namely European countries such as France, Germany, Belgium and also Russia," Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said.

“I hope by making a common cause with them we will be able to exert some influence on the United States," he said.

In their NAM summit that ended Tuesday, the mainly developing countries urged Washington to give peace a chance and pledged support for UN processes.

. . .
up at the emergency summit of the 57-member OIC in Qatar next week. “There were some views that some weapons might rebound and we might have to pay a very high price so other than that most of us think that we should look into it,” he said. “We should think about this, not just dismiss it.” Mahathir said the OIC members had also urged Iraq to comply fully with United Nations weapons inspectors, and rejected any new UN Security Council resolution. Syria and Pakistan, who were both represented on Wednesday, are among the 15 Security Council members who will vote on the new resolution submitted on Monday by the United States, Britain and Spain. “We are agreed that Iraq should comply completely with the requests by the inspectors for any examination into possible weapons of mass destruction which may be manufactured or which may be kept by Iraq,” he told journalists. “Iraq itself denies that it has weapons of mass destruction and Iraq makes the invitation that if there is anyone who would like to see they can go and see for themselves.” ----------------------------------------------------------- The Oil Weapon KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Feb. 26, 2003


 (AP / CBS)
In an interview at the Islamic Conferen
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Approximate Word count = 1494
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)