AFP
DUBAI, Sept 29 ( AFP ) - 16h47 - Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Massud Barzani rejected as "unacceptable" a call by France to include Iraq's armed opposition in a proposed conference on the war-torn country, Al-Jazeera television reported.
"The position of France... is a flagrant interference in the affairs of Iraq" and is "totally unaccetable", he was quoted as saying by the Qatar-based channel.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said at the weekend that an international conference on Iraq could take place in a Middle Eastern capital before the US presidential election on November 2.
France -- which took the lead in opposing the US-led war on Iraq -- said that while it was not against the proposal, that any meeting should also discuss the withdrawal of US-led forces and include the armed opposition.
France's position "is surprising and repugnant as a (world) power demands the participation of a representative of the so-called resistance. That means a representative of terrorism, of terrorists," Barzani said.
