SHARM EL-SHEIKH, March 1: The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) call for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to resign to prevent a war had the backing of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, its information minister said here on Saturday.

“Arab states such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia openly approved the initiative of UAE President Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, and other Arab states approve it as well but haven’t had the courage to openly announce it,” Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed told reporters after the end of an Arab summit here on the Iraqi crisis.

He deplored that Arab leaders and other senior representatives refrained from discussing the initiative proposed by his father “that could spare Iraq the torment of war”.

“The Arabs have refused discussing the initiative, arguing that it would have constituted a dangerous precedent, but this means that they are not really seeking an exit for the crisis,” he said.

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal earlier confirmed the UAE proposal was submitted to the summit, but stopped short of commenting on it.

The text of the initiative called on “the Iraqi leadership to quit power and leave Iraq, within a two-week time limit after it accepts this initiative”.

It provided for “judicial guarantees, binding on both international and national levels, to be given to the Iraqi leadership to make sure that it won’t be prosecuted,” and “a general and total amnesty be issued for all Iraqis, inside or abroad.”

It also requested that “the Arab League be tasked, in cooperation with the UN secretary general, of administrating the situation in Iraq for a temporary period, during which measures shall be undertaken to ensure a return to a normal situation satisfying the will of the Iraqi people.”—AFP