The United States and its allies in the war on Iraq are forming a multinational force to "stabilize" Iraq and will not seek a United Nations mandate, a senior US official said Friday on condition of anonymity.

Iraq will be divided into three sectors to be commanded by the United States, Britain and Poland, which will enlist other countries to provide forces to secure the peace, said the official.

British forces in Iraq control the country's second city of Basra in the southeast.

"It's obvious where our troops are, in the southeast. I think that's likely where our presence will be maintained" as part of a future force, a defence ministry spokesman told AFP.

Britain had contributed 45,000 men to the campaign in the Gulf. By mid-May the level was expected to be between 25,000 to 30,000, a defence minstry spokesman said.

British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon set the plan in motion at a meeting in London on Wednesday of 16 countries, Britain, the United States, 10 other NATO members and four non-NATO states.

"It was a working meeting between military staff from various countries including Britain to look at the future security of Iraq," the spokesman said, without naming the participants.

France, Germany and Russia -- which opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq -- were not invited to the "Initial Coalition Stabilization Operations Conference".

The official said no UN mandate would be sought for the force but if some countries felt they needed a NATO umbrella to participate it would be taken up in the alliance's defence planning committee. France is not a member of the committee and so could not use its veto.

SPACE.WIRE