Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Maher is surrounded by security as he walks at the Red Sea resort of Sahrm el-Sheik Friday, February 28

CAIRO, March 9 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A delegation of Arab foreign ministers, which lobbied the United Nations against an Iraq war last week, is due to visit Baghdad Tuesday, March 11, Egypt's Ahmed Maher said.

"The Arab delegation accomplished the first part of its mission by meeting foreign ministers and UN officials who took part in the UN Security Council meeting" on Friday, Maher told reporters on his arrival home from New York, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

"We will accomplish the second part when we go to Iraq in two days."

Earlier Sunday an Arab League official said the pan-Arab body had received a message from Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri saying Baghdad welcomed the visit by the delegation of Arab ministers.

Comprising the foreign ministers of Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia and Syria, as well as Arab League secretary general Amr Mussa, the delegation met U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell Saturday to brief him on the decision of an Arab summit earlier this month to oppose U.S.-led war plans.

The delegation also met UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and UN disarmament chiefs Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, the state-owned Cairo daily Al-Akhbar said.

"The aim of these steps is to prevent a war in Iraq and to complete implementation of Resolution 1441," said Maher.

Mussa, for his part, said the delegation's meeting were "important and timely, given the current situation in the region" and added the delegation "felt ... there was opposition to a military solution" to the Iraq crisis.

Baghdad had initially been reluctant to host the delegation out of fear it could propose the exile of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, but Mussa said Saturday a "misunderstanding" on the committee's mission was solved following the Arab summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on March 1.

Mussa attended the UN Security Council meeting on Iraq on Friday, March 7, during which the United States, Britain and Spain proposed that Iraq should be given a March 17 deadline to comply with UN disarmament demands.