Dubai: More than 300 prominent Iraqi figures representing various sections converged in Baghdad on April 28 to discuss the shape of new government, ironically coinciding with the 66th birth anniversary of deposed President Saddam Hussein.

American helicopters, tanks and soldiers formed a tight security ring as the delegates, comprising Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, exiles and clerics attended the meeting called by the US administrator for post-war Iraq, Jay Garner.

"You are going to begin the process of government and it's our job to give to give you the tools…and resources that you need," Garner said at the meeting, which began after a reading from the Koran.

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He said the meeting was aimed at establishing a democratic government, which represents "all people, all religions and all tribes".

The talks coincided with fallen leader Saddam Hussein's birthday. A forgotten hero, there were few tears for the dictator in the country, save his native town of Tikrit, where some people staged demonstrations in his praise.

In Baghdad, however, three weeks after the US troops seized the city, the state-sponsored and state-managed mass demonstrations were absent.

A ragged man was spotted carrying a placard depicting Saddam with horns and a noose around his neck.

However, the fate of the ousted leader remained a mystery.

Saddam has made no public appearance since early April, and it is unclear if he is alive.

His captured Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz told American interrogators he saw Saddam alive after the two US "decapitation" air strikes, 'USA Today' reported, citing an unidentified senior US defence official.

Amid reports of people defacing posters of the toppled, Garner only said, "Today on the birthday of Saddam Hussein, let us start the democratic process for the children of Iraq."

As the meeting progressed, thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets calling for unity among Shiite and Sunni Muslims, and of Iraqi Arabs and Iraqi Kurds.

Reports from the Northern city of Mosul, a Kurd area, said the paramilitary forces there complied with US Army orders to stop armed patrols at checkpoints to ease tensions.

However, the allied troops faced small arms fire and took two prisoners in the capital city of Diyala province, Baqubah in the North East.

In the neighbouring Qatar, visiting US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld described the performance of the coalition forces as a "historic success" and said that US had no intentions of establishing long-term bases in Iraq and that its troops would only stay as long as they were needed.

"There are no plans for long-term bases in the Iraq," he said in an interview to Al-Jazeera television.

Meanwhile, the 'New York Times' reported that additional tests conducted on a dozen suspicious 55-gallon drums found near the Northern town of Baiji showed that the barrels did not contain chemical weapons.

PTI