Report: Iraqi opposition to form provisional government in southern Iraq

The British daily "The Independent" reported on Wednesday that the Iraqi opposition intends to form a provisional government in southern Iraq, getting benefits from the US military aid to establish a "liberated zone."

The paper said that the leader of the Iraqi opposition, Ahmad Shalabi, is now in Washington to "discuss this matter with the US administration." The paper continued that Shalabi held intensive talks with the US secretaries of defense and state to discuss "military and political alternatives" to topple Saddam Hussein's government.

The paper added that Shalabi is favored by the US congress, noting that President Clinton's inclination towards the Iraqi opposition to topple Saddam Hussein had made this opposition think of "settling problems it suffers, foremost being the partition the opposition groups positioned in Britain, suffer."