Baghdad has launched a major diplomatic drive to rally Arab opposition to possible US military action against Iraq ahead of an Arab summit later this month.
President Saddam Hussein has dispatched senior Iraqi officials to almost all Arab capitals except Riyadh and Kuwait, Iraq's 1991 Gulf War foes, to make Iraq's case for rejecting any US strike.
The Iraqi News Agency INA said today that Saddam had sent Iraq's Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan to Yemen and Sudan to "organize a united Arab stance against the threat of US aggression against Iraq."
Mr Ramadan told reporters late yesterday that the envoys would also discuss the 18-month Palestinian uprising with Arab states, whose leaders meet in the Lebanese capital Beirut on March 27th for an Arab League summit.
Deputy Prime Minister Mr Tareq Aziz started a tour of four North African countries Saturday. He met Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and other government officials Sunday before flying to Tunisia where he is due to meet Tunisian President Mr Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. He will also visit Algeria and Morocco.
Iraq's vice chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, Mr Izzat Ibrahim, toured Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt last week before heading to Gulf Arab states. Ibrahim met United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Zaid bin Sultan al-Nahayan Sunday before flying to Bahrain. He is also due to visit Qatar.
Baghdad has been seeking to rally Arab support since President Bush labeled Iraq part of an "axis of evil," fueling speculation Washington planned to attack Iraq.
The Iraqi diplomatic offensive coincides with an 11-nation Middle East tour by Vice President Mr Dick Cheney designed to muster support for the war against terrorism, and promote the campaign to stop Saddam developing weapons of mass destruction.
Washington says Iraq should allow UN arms experts to return or face severe consequences. But Washington's main allies in the region, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, oppose military action against Iraq.
Weapons inspectors left Iraq on the eve of a brief US-British bombing campaign in December 1998. The inspectors, who must certify Iraq free of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons before UN sanctions can be lifted, have not been allowed back.
Mr Ramadan was quoted today as saying Baghdad would agree only to a conditional resumption of UN weapons inspections.