Officials of non-aligned countries gathering for a summit in Malaysia are expected to push for peaceful ends to weapons crises involving Iraq and North Korea.
Officials from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), whose members include Iraq, North Korea and Iran, dubbed an "axis of evil" by US President George W. Bush, began a second day of talks before their foreign ministers meet on Saturday.
The United States and Britain are massing 150,000 troops on Iraq's border, threatening war unless President Saddam Hussein surrenders alleged stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.
The North Korea crisis began in October, when US officials said the secretive communist state had admitted to pursuing a nuclear weapons programme.
Malaysia has predicted that the Non-Aligned Movement will come down firmly against war as a solution to the Iraqi crisis.
Malaysia expects 56 heads of state to gather in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, with several Middle East nations sending substitutes because of uncertainty over the timing of an emergency Arab Summit in Cairo to discuss the Iraq crisis.
Both Iraq and North Korea will figure on the final summit declaration, which will likely condemn any attack by U.S.-led forces while also urging Baghdad to comply with UN resolutions on weapons inspections.
A separate statement on the plight of the Palestinians is also expected.
