Iraqis plead for more international help

Interim Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh told representatives of some 55 countries and organisations that donors should waive the debt from the rule of Saddam Hussein and that the United Nations should play a more active role in Iraq.

"We need more UN support and we need it now. Please don't let the Iraqi people down," Saleh told the opening of the two-day conference in Tokyo.

"Development and stability of Iraq cannot be driven forward through the barrels of guns. Assistance and aid in the short term is the key to destroying the causes of terrorism," he said.

The donors' conference is the fourth since the fall of Saddam and the first since the interim government took over from US-led forces in June.

The meeting is not intended to raise more pledges of aid but to look at how to disburse money that has been committed.

The interim government has said it will propose to the donors a wish list of commitments to 324 projects costing a total 43.5 billion dollars, including 53 related to infrastructure.

US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told the conference that Iraq needed to step up its police force to improve public safety.

Host Japan announced it would devote 40 million dollars of the five billion dollars it has already pledged to support Iraq's legislative elections due in January.

Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said the money was being offered in the hope "that the elections take place successfully and on schedule."

The United States and the interim government are sticking to the January schedule for the historic election, although US officials have acknowledged the vote could be violent due to the ongoing insurgency.

But the deputy prime minister insisted that Iraq had already met other political deadlines including the June transfer of power.

"We are determined to prove the doubters wrong again and hold elections next year as planned. Our political process is on track despite the odds," Saleh told the conference.