"The Iraqis have to govern themselves. Iraq must not become a country that distances itself from the values of the Islamic world," Mussa told Der Spiegel magazine in its edition to be released on Saturday.

He said that work to rebuild Iraq following the US-led war should be run by the United Nations and the Arab League.

The former Egyptian foreign minister also warned the United States against the temptation to indulge in "suspicious commercial practices" by giving contracts to a selected companies.

On Tuesday, Mussa called on Iraq's ethnic and religious factions, who were holding a first meeting to discuss the future of their country, to unite so that Iraq can "stand on its own two feet".

He asked those leaders meeting near the southern city of Nasiriyah, "Arabs, Kurds, Shiites, Sunnis, Turkmens, Christians and Assyrians, to form a single bloc in these serious and critical times through which Iraq is passing".

Washington gathered around 80 exiles, opposition figures and tribal and religious leaders in the Biblical city of Ur, near Nasiriyah, for the first in a series of meetings to lay the groundwork for democratic government.

They pledged to work for a democratic Iraq and to hold more talks in 10 days, after the meeting was marred by angry protests over the nation's future after Saddam Hussein.

SPACE.WIRE