The Archbishop of Kirkuk in northern Iraq has painted a bleak picture of the situation for the country's Christian community. He rejected as "difficult and risky" proposals for the establishment of a Christian safe zone in Iraq.

|QUOTE|Archbishop Louis Sako warned that the massive exodus of Christians from Basra was so far advanced that the diocese is likely to remain vacant now that the local bishop has left to take up a new post administering to exiled communities in Sydney, Australia.

Only 200 families and one priest now remain in the region of Basra.

"It is almost the case now that there is no future for the church in so many parts of the country, including Baghdad, Mosul and Basra," he said.

Archbishop Sako also criticised the proposal by US bishops which called on the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to grant asylum to Iraq's persecuted Christians and to create a safe haven for them in the country's Nineveh plains, reports the Catholic News Agency (CNA).

The plans were "impossible", he said, and "could create much more tension than relief for Christians".

Archbishop Sako suggested that such a plan could bring divisions among Iraq's Christian faithful at a time of increasing anti-US sentiment in Iraq.

"We have not at all assimilated with the coalition forces. We have nothing to do with them, nor indeed do we have anything to do with the West," said Archbishop Sako. "We are Christians; we are citizens like everyone else," he added, as he stressed the historic co-existence and cooperation between Christian communities and the prevailing Islamic culture.

Archbishop Sako's has instead called for an urgent meeting of religious, political and intellectual leaders in the region to discuss the situation of Christians in Iraq.

In an appeal distributed by AsiaNews, Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk proposed the drafting of an official statement from the meeting "that will clarify an objective and integral vision of the future of Christians in Iraq".

He said: "The objective is to write a clear official document which will highlight the history of Christians in Iraq and their contribution to the Arabic, Kurdish and Islamic cultures and make known their position vis-à-vis the present situation."