International Iraq meeting postponed to May

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A ministerial meeting between Iraq, its neighbours and world powers to follow up earlier talks aimed at stabilising the country has been postponed until the first week in May, Iraq's foreign minister said on Thursday.

Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters the meeting would be held outside Iraq, declining to give the location or elaborate on the reason for the delay.

The meeting had been expected to take place in Istanbul in early April.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki wanted it held in Baghdad, but Iraqi officials had said some countries were worried about security.

"All I can say at the moment is that it will be held in the first week of May and outside Iraq," Zebari said.

Iraq called the meeting of senior officials in March to enlist the support of its neighbours to help end bloodshed. But it also provided a rare opportunity for the United States and its adversaries Iran and Syria to sit at the same table.

Washington accuses Syria and Iran of supporting militants in Iraq, a charge they deny, and has spurned suggestions that it should reach out to them for help in stabilising Iraq.

Maliki had urged the officials in March to do all they could to help end the sectarian violence that threatens to plunge Iraq into all-out civil war and spread across the region.