Saddam ready to go into exile: Diplomats' proposal in few days
DUBAI/CAIRO, Jan 16: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has agreed to leave Iraq and go into exile in an African country if certain conditions are met,
three diplomats in the United Arab Emirates were quoted as saying on Thursday.
The diplomats in Dubai, one Western and two Arabic, who did not want to be named or reveal their sources, said the Iraqi leadership was prepared
to accept a deal under which Saddam Hussein would leave the country if he was guaranteed not to be prosecuted or persecuted by the United States
or any of its European allies.
Hussein would be accompanied by other members of his government and their families, and an African country was considered as the location for
their exile, they said.
According to observers in the region, news of a possible exile for Saddam could be related to recent announcements that Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran,
Egypt, Jordan, and Syria were due to present a proposal to avoid an invasion in the next few days.
The speculations gained pace after Syrian President Bashar al Assad cancelled a scheduled trip to Tehran on Wednesday and a visit of Iraq's Gen
Ali Hassan al Majid to Cairo was postponed.
Egyptian media had first announced that al Majid, a member of Iraq's Revolution Council and a cousin of President Saddam, wanted to bring
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak a message from Saddam. No new date had been set for the visit, it was said.
"The timing was not appropriate," Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said in Cairo on Thursday.
According to the three diplomats, further conditions for Saddam's departure would be the withdrawal of United States troops from the Gulf region,
the end of United Nations arms inspections and sanctions against Iraq as well as measures against the production of weapons of mass destruction
in Iraq.
However, the US had so far rejected these conditions and Egypt was now trying to convince Baghdad to accept a compromise, the diplomats said.
Cairo has in recent days been the centre of a flurry of regional diplomatic activity involving Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan and Iran, aimed at
resolving the standoff through diplomatic and political means, which was "our objective", according to Maher.
Politicians and observers had repeatedly dismissed speculations that Saddam might resign, adding that such rumours could have been spread
deliberately in order to cause uncertainty amongst government officials in Baghdad.
Baghdad said Saddam Hussein would not leave his country under any circumstances.
According to Turkish media reports on Thursday, the heads of state and government from Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Iran were invited to meet in
Turkey next week in order to issue a joint declaration on the Iraq conflict. Abdullah Gul, the Turkish Prime Minister, was also reported as planning a
visit to the Middle East next week.
UNPROFESSIONAL INSPECTORS: Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said on Thursday that United Nations inspectors looking for evidence his
country was developing weapons of mass destruction were acting unprofessionally.
"They are not carrying out their mission professionally," Aziz told reporters after meeting Morocco's King Mohammed in the coastal city of Agadir.
"The inspectors are in reality, looking for information on (Iraq's) capacities in terms of industry, technology and conventional defensive weapons
that are not banned internationally," he said, in comments that were relayed by MAP news agency.
On Jan 6 Iraqi President Saddam Hussein accused the UN weapons experts of spying and the United States of plotting to "occupy" the oil-rich Gulf.
"Instead of searching for so-called weapons of mass destruction in order to expose the lies of the liars, the inspection teams have been compiling
lists of Iraqi scientists, asking questions with undeclared purposes, and inquiring about army camps and non-prohibited armament," he said.
"All this, or at least most of it, is sheer intelligence activity," said Aziz.
SYRIA: Syria's state-run radio on Thursday accused Washington of contradicting UN resolutions by amassing troops in the Gulf to prepare for
invading Iraq before arms inspectors finished their work.-Agencies
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