Egypt, Saudi Arabia refuse to take part in the war; al-Faisal: we did not ask Saddam to quit
Regional-Iraq, Politics, 12/27/2002

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister prince Saud al-Faisal and the Egyptian foreign minister Ahmad Maher have stressed that their two countries will not take part in any way in acts against Iraq.

Al-Faisal said that even if a resolution is issued by the UN to attack Iraq, according to article 7 of the UN charter, this will not force the Kingdom to directly take part in the war.

Meantime, Maher said that there are two "trends" in the American administration, each calls for a different option concerning dealing with Iraq "But we work in a way as if it is possible to spare the war." The Saudi foreign minister had denied that his country had asked the Iraqi President to quit the authority in order to avoid the American war.

He said replying to a question to that effect "Inter Arab contacts have not stopped not in secret nor in open and all Arab states are involved in the attempt to avoid the war." Al-Faisal's statement came in a press conference which was the first within a series of regular press conferences that will be held in Riyadh on weekly basis at the request of the Saudi crown prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz to speak about the Saudi position concerning Arab and international issues, regularly.

Al-Faisal said that even if a resolution is issued by the UN Security Council to attack Iraq "the Iraqi state should have the last chance to try avoiding this war because it will damage Iraq and create a state of instability in the region as a whole." Al- Faisal stressed that "no change was made in the nature of the ( American and British ) forces in the base of prince Sultan in order to say that it will take part in any military act against Iraq or that the Kingdom will permit attacking Iraq from its territories."

In Cairo, the Egyptian foreign minister Ahmad Maher said "we will not send our forces, nor take part in this war." He added "Egypt will not take part in this war in any form."

Replying to a question on the participation of the Egyptian forces in the former Gulf war, Maher said "in the year 1990 Iraq had invaded an Arab country and that occupation had to be ended. And President Mubarak before that tried to convince Iraq to pullout from Kuwait."

Previous Stories:
  Three tracks for Egyptian moves to prevent attacks against Iraq   (12/25/2002)
  Saudi FM: Prince Sultan base will not be used for attacking Iraq   (12/25/2002)
  Egypt may lose 8 billion in the Iraqi war   (12/20/2002)
  Al-Watan: Saudi Arabia, Iraq resume telecommunications   (12/16/2002)
  Arab League puts forward list of Arab candidates for inspection team in iraq   (12/3/2002)
  Al-Seyasah: Inter- Arab consultations concerning Iraq   (11/21/2002)

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