TUNIS, March 17: Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Aziz arrived in Tunisia on Sunday as part of a North African tour aimed at rallying opposition against possible US strikes on Iraq before an Arab summit later this month.

Aziz flew to Tunis, the second leg of his tour, from neighbouring Libya where he met leader Muammar Qadhafi and other Libyan government officials in Tripoli, Tunis officials said.

In his role as an envoy from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Aziz was due to visit Algeria and Morocco after Tunis.

Saddam sent another envoy, Izzat Ibrahim, to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt last week. Ibrahim, vice chairman of Iraq’s Revolutionary Command Council, said in Beirut that any US threat against Iraq was a threat against the whole Arab nation.

The visits to Arab countries by Saddam’s envoys coincided with US Vice President Dick Cheney’s Middle East tour to promote Washington’s campaign to stop Baghdad acquiring weapons of mass destruction.—Reuters