UAE Appeal on Saddam's Fate Draws Mixed Reactions

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, March 02, 2003

UAE Appeal on Saddam's Fate Draws Mixed Reactions

An appeal by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's fate drew mixed reactions at the ongoing Arab summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

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An appeal by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's fate drew mixed reactions at the ongoing Arab summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

"The appeal was one of the ideas aimed at seeking a peaceful solution to the Iraqi crisis," Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Saudi al-Faisal said.

He made the remarks during an interval of the gathering, when asked about the appeal for Arab leaders to urge Saddam to step down and leave his country to avoid a war in the region."During the summit, Arab states have made enormous efforts to try to avoid war on Iraq and protect the Iraqi people," he said.

Asked by Xinhua whether the new move would have negative impact on forming a unified stance on the Iraqi standoff, Faisal replied that all the ideas aim to prevent war, because anti-Iraq war will badly affect Iraq itself and the whole Arab world."Arab nations do not have only one stance concerning the Iraqi leadership. All the ideas are open to discussions, and it is important to choose one of them which could best protect the Iraqi people," he said.

The appeal on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's fate put forth by UAE President Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan al-Nahayan in his address to the 15th Arab summit was circulated to the press. Nahayan, who did not show up at the gathering, called on the summit to announce an initiative, demanding that the Iraqi leadership abandon power and leave Iraq.

"This could be able to take place on the ground that the Iraqi leadership enjoys all kinds of amnesties," said the statement.The new idea triggered uproar among the participants, who are generally prudent about sensitive issues, especially the change of a regime.

"Such an idea has not been welcomed by a majority of Arab leaders," a senior Lebanese official told Xinhua in an interview. "Asking the Iraqi leadership to step down constitutes an interference in Iraq's internal affairs which can only be decided upon by its own people," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"We understand that the United Arab Emirates does not want to meddle in Iraq's internal affairs, but to raise a proposal aimed at sparing Iraq a military attack," he said.

Arab leaders, who have been under mounting pressure from the masses to speak loudly against any war on Iraq, are reluctant to do something which could be interpreted as an interference in Iraq's internal affairs.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia, two heavy weights in the region, have stressed that any change of the Iraqi leadership is up to the Iraqi people.

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UAE Calls for Saddam to Resign at Arab Summit

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