Arab states "connive" against Baghdad -Iraq's Talabani

GENEVA, June 29 (Reuters) Iraq's President Jalal Talabani today accused some Arab states of ''conniving'' against Baghdad for fear it will build a democracy that inspires other peoples in the region to seek greater freedom.

Speaking to a Geneva meeting of the Socialist International, Talabani accused the same states of ''laxness'' that allowed terrorists from around the Arab world to flood into Iraq.

''Since its liberation from dictatorship, Iraq is coming under an external invasion of terrorists from all parts of the Arab world -- from the Maghreb, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria,'' declared Talabani, an ethnic Kurd.

He said terrorists were ''exploiting the laxness of the governments that oppose a federal and democratic Iraq'', and also receiving generous financial backing from organisations in those countries that claim to promote Islam.

''Iraq has now become an arena for the conniving of most of these governments against our people,'' Talabani declared, according to an English text of his speech provided by officials accompanying him.

He called on the Socialist International and governments led by its member parties to urge Middle Eastern states ''to stop interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq'' and to cut off financial help for terrorists in his country.

The Socialist International, a worldwide organisation of social democratic, socialist and labour parties, currently groups some 161 political parties and organisations.

Talabani made no reference to Iran, which he visited earlier this week. Tehran is often accused of backing violent terror in Iraq by the United States and Britain, which jointly invaded in 2003 to overthrow former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

After meeting Talabani, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei accused Washington of trying to undermine his country's ties with Iraq. Tehran ''seriously supports the current government of Iraq,'' he declared.

According to the official text of his Geneva speech, Talabani gave a number of reasons for the alleged ''conniving'' of some Arab governments against the Baghdad administration.

He said they feared democratic rule in Iraq might lead the people of the Middle East to seek the same and inspire ''the oppressed ethnicities to rise and call for their rights''.

There was also a feeling of ''animosity towards the Shia of Iraq'', with some Arab governments similarly ill-disposed towards the Kurds, who had gained national rights such as federalism and built a safe and prosperous region, he said.

Reuters RS GC2211