Saddam Receives Invitation to Attend Arab Summit

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, January 23, 2002

Saddam Receives Invitation to Attend Arab Summit

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on Tuesday received a letter of invitation from his Lebanese counterpart Emile Lahoud to attend the upcoming Arab summit slated for March 27-28 in Beirut, Lebanon.

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Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on Tuesday received a letter of invitation from his Lebanese counterpart Emile Lahoud to attend the upcoming Arab summit slated for March 27-28 in Beirut, Lebanon.

Visiting Lebanese State Minister Talal Arslan handed over the letter to Saddam during a meeting and expressed Lebanon's wish for Iraq "to make active contribution and play a distinct role" to make the Arab summit a success, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.

Arslan also called for lifting the decade-old sanctions on Iraq and putting an end to the sufferings of the Iraqi people, the INA said.

Iraq has been under stringent United Nations sanctions since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

For his part, Saddam said that Iraq will take part in the summit and expressed hope that the summit will be a success and will help unify the Arab nation, the INA said.

However, whether Saddam himself will attend the Beirut summit is still a question as he has not left Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War, which ended Iraq's seven-month occupation of Kuwait.

Saddam was invited to attend the Arab summit in March 2001 in Amman, Jordan, but he did not show up and was replaced by Izzat Ibrahim, vice chairman of Iraq's decision-making Revolutionary Command Council.

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