CAIRO, Jan 15: Turkey is working with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries on convincing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to go into exile in order to prevent a US-led invasion, Arab diplomats in the region said on Wednesday.

Despite Arab and Turkish denials of having considered asking Saddam to step down and go abroad, diplomats said such efforts were based on an initiative by Turkey, whose Prime Minister Abdullah Gul toured the region this month.

The idea being mooted is that Saddam would go into exile in return for assurances that he would not be prosecuted, they said under the cover of anonymity.

Turkey and certain Arab countries, Egypt and Saudi Arabia in particular, “have accelerated their efforts in this direction” ahead of a report to be presented on January 27 by the UN weapons experts tasked to oversee Iraq’s disarmament, they added.

According to Egyptian political analyst Waheed Abdul Mejeed, deputy director of the Cairo-based Al-Ahram Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), the proposition that Saddam goes into exile was floated during Gul’s tour which included regional players Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iran.

Another ACSS analyst, Nabeel Abdul Fattah, said “Egypt justifies undertaking this role to preserve its regional standing, while Saudi Arabia wants to prove to Washington that it is fighting extremism.”

Riyadh and Cairo are also trying “to play a political and diplomatic role that would reflect positively on their public opinions, in such a way that if Iraq is attacked, they would say that they had tried by all means to reach a solution but did not succeed,” he added.

On Tuesday, US President George Bush warned that “time is running out” for Saddam. The United States is pouring troops into the Gulf, with some 150,000 US ground, air and naval personnel expected to be ready to strike Iraq by mid-February.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said on his return from Saudi Arabia on Tuesday that Arab states and Turkey were trying to find a formula acceptable to both Washington and Baghdad to head off war in Iraq.—AFP