CAIRO, Sept 14 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will travel next week to several Arab countries to gather support for an initiative aimed at convincing Iraq to allow back UN weapons inspectors and avoid war, a diplomat said Saturday, September 14.

On the other hand, Al-Jazeera satellite channel said Saturday its correspondent in Cairo has received information that an Arab summit will be held in the Egyptian resort of Sharm al sheikh in the next few days to discuss the issue of Iraq.

Mubarak will likely set out on a tour Saturday, September 21, he will visit probably Saudi Arabia, Syria and Jordan, an Egyptian diplomat told Agence France Presse (AFP).

The Egyptian president will also send envoys to other Arab countries, he said, asking not to be named.

"Our aim is to bring about an Arab initiative to convince Iraq to accept the return of the inspectors in order to avoid a war."

"It would be easier to make Iraq accept the return of the weapons experts if all Arab states jointly advise him to do so," the diplomat said.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa, currently in New York to attend the UN General Assembly, voiced support for Mubarak's move.

Mussa "attached great importance to the diplomatic efforts undertaken by the different parties to ensure the return of the inspectors to Iraq", said a statement released by the Arab League's headquarters in Cairo.

Mussa on Friday, September 13, met with chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix, and stressed the "need to work in order to allow the inspectors to complete the implementation of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions" on disarmament.

The Arab League chief told Blix the return of the inspectors should lead to the lifting of the UN sanctions imposed on Iraq since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, added the statement.

Mussa also discussed Iraq with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, and attended a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in New York that dealt with the Iraqi crisis and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, it said.

Mubarak on Friday called on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to "grab the opportunity" offered by U.S. President George W. Bush's speech at the UN General Assembly, by allowing back UN weapons inspectors immediately.

He warned Saddam that failing to do so would "lead to disastrous consequences" for Iraq and "serious repercussions" across the Middle East.

The UN weapons inspectors pulled out from Iraq on the eve of a December 1998 U.S.-British bombing blitz.

Bush warned in his speech Thursday that U.S. action against Baghdad was "unavoidable" unless the United Nations disarmed Iraq which Bush suspects of harboring a program for weapons of mass destruction.

On Friday, Bush urged the United Nations to fix a deadline for action against Iraq in "days and weeks".

Iraq has rejected the unconditional return of inspectors, saying the teams would only resume work as part of a deal that provides mainly for the lifting of the UN sanctions.

The inspectors had spend more than 10 years in Iraq without proving the existence of any weapons of mass destruction, and yet the U.S. has refused to lift the sanctions imposed on Iraq.