LONDON — In a fragile display of unity, Iraqi opposition groups agreed Monday to create a joint coordinating committee and a plan to establish democracy in Iraq if Saddam Hussein falls.
Leaders announced the accord after a sleepless weekend of negotiations at a two-day conference that brought together more than 320 delegates from Europe, the Middle East and the United States. But longtime rifts among the Iraqi exiles forced them to continue negotiations Monday over some of the appointments to the new committee.
Comprising about 50 members, the committee will try to represent an array of political parties and independent activists who are divided by ethnicity, religion, ideology and tragic history. It will design a blueprint for an eventual transitional government in which the opposition hopes to play a significant role.
However, it remained unclear how major a role the opposition will be allowed to play should the United States use force to unseat Hussein. U.S. officials have floated various plans for a post-Hussein Iraq, including installing a civilian administrator from outside the country.
Still, dissidents were enthusiastic about how far they had come. "We are entering a very sensitive era of our history," said Hamid Bayati of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a Shiite Muslim group based in Iran. "We need a strong, powerful committee, but we need it to be as representative as possible."
The Shiite group generated the toughest conflict at the conference, according to activists, who said the late-night talks involved consultations with U.S. government observers and conference calls to Iran. Shiites, who make up about 60% of Iraq's population, will get about 16 seats on the committee. But the group clashed with other Shiites over control of appointments and asked for an additional 24 hours to come up with the names, activists said.
That delay provoked tensions with the U.S. officials, who have worked with the supreme council but remain wary of its Iranian ties, according to accounts by participants. Nonetheless, activists predicted that the lingering dispute would be resolved by today.
"All the other names have been selected except for the Shiite seats," said a spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress, or INC, a coalition of exile groups that has clout with the Pentagon and Capitol Hill. "It was a very successful conference. You had people who are supposedly great enemies hugging one another, laughing and joking."
