IRAQ - GCC+Egypt & Jordan Meet With Rice.

The Foreign Ministers of Egypt, Jordan and the six states of the Arab Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), on Dec. 1 had a meeting in the Jordanian resort town of Shouna with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. They urged Ms Rice to do more to stabilise Iraq and resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,

On the sidelines of a parallel conference at the Dead Sea on democracy and development in the Middle East, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mousa said: "The region is facing a real failure. The time is not to apportion blame. We want to stand together to save the region because the region is at the abyss, whether in Iraq or in Palestine". Rice for her part sought to reach out to the Arab ministers, saying: "Of course, we realise that many of you have strong and passionate opinions about US policy with regards to Iraq and Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. At the same time we all agree on the importance of reform and the need to move forward actively with a robust reform agenda".

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abul Gaith said after the meeting that the Arabs had given Rice a "clear message" that Washington had a "a big responsibility and had to exert more effort to resolve these problems and end tensions".

Data from Iraqi Interior Ministry officials showed a 44% leap in civilian casualties in November compared with October. The increase, to 1,850 deaths, was matched by a 45% rise in the number of civilian deaths tallied by Reuters. They included the 202 people killed in a multiple car bombing in the Shi'ite stronghold of Sadr City, the worst attack since the US invasion in 2003.

The violence has its epicentre in Baghdad, despite thousands of US troops being poured into the capital to help the Iraqi army regain control of the streets from sectarian death squads through search and clear operations.