Leaders of more than 100 countries of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) are expected to pass a motion today opposing a US-led war on Iraq without the backing of the United Nations.
The countries are meeting in Kuala Lumpur for their three-yearly summit. The summit is being attended by 116 leaders who represent three billion of the world's population and make up two-thirds of the United Nations membership.
The group is expected to issue a statement demanding that Baghdad comply with UN resolutions and scrap any weapons of mass destruction, but it would also criticise the United States by stressing the need for multilateral, not unilateral, action.
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The Prime Minister of host-country Malaysia, Mr Mahathir Mohamad, had opened the summit by condemning war and attacking what he called the West's hypocrisy and the warmongering of richer nations.
He told the opening session it was no longer "just a war against terrorism, it is in fact a war to dominate the world".
South African President Mr Thabo Mbeki took up the same theme, stressing the need for all countries, big and small, to abide by international agreements.
He underscored NAM's desire that the United Nations - and not the United States - should be the top world arbiter of international crises such as Iraq.
"Peace and stability in our countries and the rest of the world demands that all of us, including those who are incomparably more powerful than we are, should respect thefindings of the weapons inspectors and the decisions of the Security Council fully and without reservation".
Six of the 116 countries that make up the Non-Aligned Movement are current members of the UN Security Council: Angola, Guinea, Syria, Pakistan, Chile and Cameroon.
Seven votes against can defeat a UN resolution and the support of Non-Aligned member states could prove vital in any vote on a second resolution.