The international community remained divided over whether to comply with Washington's pointed request to sever diplomatic ties with the present Iraqi government ahead of a promised "regime change".Italy on Sunday became the latest US ally to expel Iraqi diplomats, but stopped short of severing ties. Rome allowed the head of the Iraqi mission, which is housed at the Sudanese embassy, to remain in the country.

The foreign ministry declined to give a reason for the expulsions of two diplomats and two mission employees.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Italy would maintain ties with Baghdad, adding he would give a full account to parliament on Monday.

Washington on Thursday asked governments worldwide to cut off links with the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, shut down Iraq's embassies and freeze its assets until new authorities took power in Baghdad.

It set the example it wants the rest of the world to follow by expelling the staff of the Iraq interests section in Washington, and Australia followed suit, giving Baghdad diplomats accredited to Canberra five days to leave the country.

On Sunday, King Abdullah's Jordan became the first Arab country to toe the US line, expelling five Iraqi diplomats, but leaving 35 other embassy employees in Amman.

The decision drew a stinging response from Iraq on Sunday.

"The Jordanian government has bowed before American orders," Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said in Cairo, where he will attend an Arab League meeting on Monday in the first trip abroad by an Iraqi official since the start of the war.

Canada however said it would not immediately expel its sole Iraqi diplomat.

"At this time, we see no reason to change Iraq's current status in Canada," foreign ministry spokesman Sameer Ahmed said.

Yemen, which is strongly opposed to the war, followed several other Arab countries, including Lebanon and Egypt, in rejecting the US demands.

"The request amounts to interference in Yemen's internal affairs," a government official in Sanaa said.

Partial compliance -- some expulsions but no severing of ties -- appears to be the general response to the Bush administration's demand.

France, a trenchant opponent of the war in Iraq and a fierce protagonist in the diplomatic wrangling, which preceded it, has unsurprisingly rejected the move.

Though Germany last week expelled four diplomats for activities incompatible with their status as diplomats -- a euphemism for spying -- a foreign ministry spokesman said breaking off ties with Baghdad was not on its agenda.

Even staunch European allies of the US policy on Iraq -- Spain and Bulgaria -- have yet to announce any expulsions.

Spanish Foreign Minister Mariano Rajoy said at the weekend that Madrid had no plans for the moment to expel Iraq's representatives.

"We are studying the possibility but for the moment we are not going to close the Iraqi embassy."

And another pro-US state, Portugal, strongly rejected the notion.

"Portugal has not declared war on Iraq, it is not required to break its diplomatic relations," Foreign Minister Antonio Martins da Cruz said Saturday.

Moscow, a staunch opponent of the war, has firmly rejected any move to expel Iraqis, as has Greece, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.

Pakistan, Poland, Brazil, Yemen and Kenya, site of the massive bombing on a US embassy 1998, are other critics.

"The government has not received any formal request from the US to shut down Iraq's embassy in Kenya, and even if it did, it shall ignore it.... we will not close it," a government official told AFP.

Serbia, the Czech Republic and Thailand have also expelled Iraqi embassy staff, though Bangkok stopped short of breaking off diplomatic relations.

Sweden and Finland have both expelled Iraqi diplomats in the past week, but neither country has expressly severed diplomatic ties with Baghdad.

The Czech Republic has given four Iraqi diplomats 48 hours to leave the country, but several other diplomats have been allowed to remain.

The Vatican has already said it would not expel Iraqi diplomats accredited to the Holy See, saying all avenues for dialogue should be kept open

PHOTO CAPTION

Iraqi embassy spokesman Jawad al-Ali confirms that five Iraqi diplomats left Jordan after being expelled by the foreign ministry. (AFP/File/Leila Gorchev) - Mar 23 9:53 AM ET