Aziz accuses Mubarak of using US double-standard

The Iraqi daily al-Joumhoreyah on Tuesday issued an article written by Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz in which he strongly criticized Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who held Iraqi President Saddam Hussein responsible for the problems Iraq is suffering.

Aziz wrote: "The Egyptian President has found an easy outlet for himself, personally and put the blame on the Iraqi leadership." Aziz added, "President Mubarak, who is the President of the greatest Arab country, did not deal with the aggression from the perspective of international legitimacy. He did not say what had been ever said by numerous presidents, politicians and writers -- many of them from Western countries -- that this aggression has no basis in what is called international legitimacy, a matter which contradicts with the UN Security Council resolutions and threatens the very role of the UN."

Aziz asserted that the Egyptian president, who always talked about international legitimacy and called for its implementation, especially in what relates to the Iraqi side, "is practicing the same double standard policy pursues by the US."

Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Iraqi Foreign Ministry denounced the postponement of the consultant ministerial meeting of the Arab foreign ministers until January 24, 1999, at the request of the Gulf Cooperation Council member states. He said it never happened that a meeting for the Arab League was canceled or postponed "under the request of a minority."

Meanwhile, Iraqi Foreign Minister Muhammad Saeed al-Sahaf has concluded a three-day official visit to Yemen during which he conveyed a message from Saddam Hussein to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The new Iraqi representative at the AL, Sultan al-Shawi, accused certain Arab Gulf states of taking negative position towards the Arab inclination to maintain closer relations with Iraq.