- TRIPOLI (AFP) - Libya dismissed
as "fiction" a British newspaper report that Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein plans to pay Tripoli billions of dollars to provide political
asylum for his family and senior members of the Baghdad regime in the event
of any US-led war.
-
- "This information is completely unfounded and is
aimed at tarnishing Libya's image," foreign ministry spokesman Hassuna
Shawush told AFP, commenting on the report in The Times.
-
- "This is fabricated information, it is fiction,"
he added, underlining that the idea was never raised during talks between
Iraqi envoy General Ali Hassan al-Majid and Libyan leaders on September
8.
-
- Majid came to Tripoli solely "to explain developments"
concerning US-threats to strike Iraq, Shawush said.
-
- The paper said the deal, which would also cover an internal
coup d'etat, would see the Iraqi leader pay 3.5 billion dollars (euros)
for the safe haven of his family and around a dozen senior officials of
the Baghdad regime and their families.
-
- The deal does not include plans to provide refuge to
Saddam or his eldest son, Uday, according to The Times, which said it learnt
from diplomatic sources in Tripoli that the Iraqi leader's secret emissaries
visited Libya and Syria to discuss an escape route.
-
- The Times said any deal to provide refuge to Saddam or
Uday would lead to Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi coming under intense international
pressure to hand them over for war crimes trials.
|
