Saudi Arabia has officially proposed for the first time that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein should go into exile, a Saudi diplomatic source said on Wednesday.
"The kingdom, and other parties, are exerting maximum effort to prevent a devastating war and they have proposed the idea of exile for Saddam and securing a safe haven for him and his family," the source told Reuters.
Earlier, Saudi King Fahd said in a statement that Saudi Arabia would not participate "under any circumstances" in a war against Iraq. The statement, read by Crown Prince Abdullah on Saudi television, said Saudi armed forces will not enter "one inch" of Iraqi territories.
"We reject outright any infringement on Iraq's unity, independence, resources and internal security, as well as a military occupation, and we have informed the United States of America of our position," the statement added.
Meanwhile, Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Wednesday that there is every chance that a war against Iraq will begin on Thursday.
"Yes, I think there is every chance that that's going to happen because what we were hoping was that Saddam Hussein would take advantage of the 48-hour ultimatum. But it doesn't look like, to us, as though he is going to take advantage of that," Downer told Sydney radio station 2GB.
(Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
