This was disclosed by former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi in an interview recently published here by the Gulf News.

Allawi said that this was "a courageous initiative" and that the UAE was the only Arab country to move any proposal at a time while the other Arab countries were waiting hopefully for some international initiative to solve the issue.

"Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan submitted, before the USled invasion of Iraq, a courageous, strong and clear initiative that had the insight to spare Iraq and the region the devils of a military confrontation", Allawi was quoted by the Dubai based English daily as saying.

"Sheikh Zayed submitted to the Arab Summit convened in Egypt in March 2003 a four-point message appealing to then Iraqi president Saddam Hussain to step down and leave Iraq to avoid war, while putting Iraq under the tutelage of the Arab League and the United Nations."

Allawi made his remarks as Iraq featured as the main topic on the talks of both the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates in their regional tour.

An Iraqi opposition figure before the Iraq war and now critical of US policy failures in Iraq after toppling Saddam's regime, Allawi urged Arabs to support the latest Arab summit resolutions, particularly those related to supporting national reconciliation in Iraq.

"Arabs cannot stand still and silently see Iraq being torn apart," he stressed.

"Helping Iraq is also helping the region to contain repercussions of the ongoing conflict in Iraq, said Allawi, a secular Shiite who served as Prime Minister from June 2004 to April 2005.

Allawi said he believes that "the (Iraq) war will now end only by a collective UN, Arab and Islamic efforts to stop the ravaged nation from veering to the abyss.

The only solution to the crisis is, according to Allawi, "through a wider role for the UN in Iraq and an agreement among the Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Conference and the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)" to help Iraqis.

"Otherwise no one knows where this conflict will cause for the region," he warned.