"In terms of time for the presence of the international forces to help us establish security and stability, I think it will be a question of months rather than years," Allawi told a joint press conference with British counterpart Geoff Hoon.

"The multinational force, in as much as its presence is needed to maintain security, will need ... to be replaced by indigenous forces, by Iraqi forces," Allawi said.

The Iraqi minister was responding to a question about how long foreign troops might be expected to remain in the country following the handover of sovereignty by the US-led coalition on June 30.

Allawi and Hoon held talks at the Ministry of Defence in central London ahead of the press conference.

The British minister refused to say whether London would be dispatching extra troops to Iraq ahead of the sovereignty transfer.

"The situation remains exactly as it was, and as I have set out on a number of occasions recently," Hoon told the press conference.

"We keep the requirement for troop levels under constant review, we are in constant contact with our officer commanding on the ground in southern Iraq, and obviously in the light of his request, his judgement of the security situation, we will make appropriate decisions.

"But we have not taken any decisions at this stage to send extra troops to Iraq."

A series of newspaper reports have said that London is preparing to send as many as 3,000 more troops to Iraq to help ensure stability ahead of June 30.

Britain currently has 7,900 troops occupying oil-rich southern Iraq, based in the city of Basra, and has declined to say as yet whether it will be sending more, possibly to replace departing Spanish personnel.

However the decision to commit further forces to Iraq could prove highly unpopular for the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair, with a newspaper poll saying Tuesday that 86 percent of Britons opposed this.

Eighty-four percent also feel that, if reinforcements had to be sent, they should serve only under British commanders and in British-controlled areas, the opinion poll for the Guardian newspaper indicated.

Additionally, 14 percent said that British troops should leave Iraq within six months, while 45 percent said coalition forces "should remain in Iraq as long as necessary" -- the same line as that taken by Blair's government.

With local council and European Parliament elections in Britain on June 10, Blair could, however, find some comfort in an apparent decline in anti-war feeling that could work against his Labour party.

The number of respondents saying the Iraq war was unjust fell five points from April to 43 percent, while those saying it was justified were up three points at 44 percent.

All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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