
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 21, 1991                   TAG: 9102210332
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: PARIS                                LENGTH: Medium

PEACE PLAN'S LACK OF BACKING SHOWS SADDAM DISTRUST

The failure of West European governments to embrace the Soviet plan for an Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait reflects a shared skepticism with Washington over Saddam Hussein's willingness to surrender.

And it also shows the extent to which some of the European nations support the unstated aim of seeing him removed from power, analysts and diplomats here said Wednesday.

Italy became the first and only European ally to endorse the Soviet proposal Wednesday. Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti reportedly told a Cabinet meeting that Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's initiative was "perfectly in line" with U.N. resolutions demanding an Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait.

German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher praised the Soviet effort, and said that Soviet interests in the Persian Gulf region must be taken into account, but his boss, Chancellor Helmut Kohl, held fast in urging an immediate Iraqi withdrawal as the only way to avert war.

Some analysts also have noted that if hostilities end now, the U.S.-led forces would not have entered Iraq and would have far less leverage in the postwar settlement.

While details of the proposal have been kept quiet, as Gorbachev requested, West European leaders have neither rallied to its support nor ruled out an end to hostilities.

Rather than getting tangled in the details of the proposal, West European officials instead demanded a unilateral and unconditional Iraqi agreement to withdraw from Kuwait as the only way to stave off a ground offensive.

French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas said that "now, more than ever, the ultimate decision rests with Saddam Hussein, who must choose clearly and without delay the evacuation of Kuwait or the continuation of war."

Unlike the last-minute maneuvering by the European Community, the U.N. and France Jan. 14 to avert war, nobody in Paris appears eager to offer Saddam a graceful way to avoid ground fighting.

"Perhaps [French President] Francois Mitterrand is starting to think [Saddam] is not trustworthy, that the most important thing is to get rid of him," said Sami Cohen, of the Center for the Study of International Relations.

"Nobody's interested in seeing him drag this promise of withdrawal out for months," a French Foreign Ministry source said.

by CNB