Iraq Seeks Deal on Exile for Saddam

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 17, 2003

Iraq Seeks Deal on Exile for Saddam - Der Spiegel

The Iraqi government is seeking guarantees to allow President Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi leaders to go into exile as a way to end tension, German current affairs magazine Der Spiegel said.

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The Iraqi government is seeking guarantees to allow President Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi leaders to go into exile as a way to end tension, German current affairs magazine Der Spiegel said.

"An African nation is being discussed," said the online version of the magazine, referring to comments from one Western and two Arab ambassadors in Dubai. It did not name the potential country of exile.

Der Spiegel said Baghdad was insisting Saddam and his relatives should be free from prosecution if they went abroad.

The Iraqi conditions include the withdrawal of US soldiers from the region, an insistence that weapons inspections and UN sanctions end and that measures are taken against what it says is the production of weapons of mass destruction by Israel.

"The diplomats, who decline to be named, have not revealed the source of their information," Der Spiegel said.

The respected magazine said the United States considered the conditions unacceptable, while Egypt was seeking to persuade Baghdad to compromise.

To date, Libya, Mauritania, Russia and Belarus have denied speculation they may be willing to offer Saddam exile to avert a war.

The United States, which plans at least to double its 60,000 soldiers already in the Gulf region, has declared Iraq in "material breach" of a UN disarmament resolution for omitting key details in a declaration of its weapons given to the United Nations last month.

Analysts say a number of Arab countries are aiming to ensure Saddam cooperates fully with UN demands on inspections or even to persuade him to step down and go into exile.

Source: agencies

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