Defiant Foreign Minister slips out of Baghdad to rally support from Arab nations

Iraq's Foreign Minister slipped quietly out of Baghdad over the weekend for a diplomatic trip to Syria and Egypt aimed at rallying Arab governments against "the American, British and Zionist aggression".

That Naji Sabri managed to leave Baghdad under heavy bombardment and make his trip was a propaganda coup in itself, and he wasted no time in addressing television cameras, venting his fury at "the drunken junkie", President George Bush, and his "follower dog", Tony Blair.

Mr Sabri claimed that Iraqi fighters had shot down a US warplane about 12 miles west of Baghdad, and issued a warning to the Turkish government not to co-operate with the US-led war effort, saying it would face "multiple harm" as a consequence. His words appeared calculated to exploit existing rifts in the international community, and coincided with fractious negotiations at the United Nations, where the British and Americans are trying to lay the groundwork for a new raft of Security Council resolutions on post-war Iraq.

Mr Sabri got a sympathetic hearing in a one-hour meeting with his Syrian counterpart, Farouk al-Sharaa, in Damascus yesterday. He then flew to Cairo, where he is due to attend a meeting of Arab foreign ministers today. He said he did not expect financial aid from other Arab governments, but was hoping at least for a rhetorical show of support.

"Arab governments are duty-bound to denounce this imperialist and Zionist aggression and demand its immediate halt," Mr Sabri said. "They have to condemn it because all the Arab people have condemned it."

Iraq appears torn in its feelings about other Arab governments, uncertain whether to seek their support or denounce them for their varying degrees of acquiescence to the US-led invasion. While Mr Sabri was making overtures to his fellow ministers, Taha Yassin Ramadan, Iraq's Vice-President, expressed an utter lack of faith in Arab government leaders and urged ordinary citizens to rebel against them. "There is no hope in these rulers," Mr Ramadan said. "Every Arab and every Muslim should become a bullet in the face of aggression."

Meanwhile, the British and Americans were moving forward at the UN with three draft resolutions on humanitarian relief for Iraq and the post-war reconstruction of the country. The first would put Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, in charge of a revamped oil-for-food program. The second would address longer-term humanitarian issues while the third would address the postwar governance of Iraq and the administration of oil and reconstruction contracts.