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

DATE: SATURDAY, March 2, 1991                   TAG: 9103020235
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: PARIS                                LENGTH: Medium

NEWSPAPER: ALGERIA WILL TAKE SADDAM

The French newspaper Le Monde reported in its Friday afternoon editions that defeated Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein sought and has been given a promise of asylum in Algeria. The Algerian Foreign Ministry flatly denied the report, describing it as "a journalist's fable."

Le Monde quoted what it called reliable sources in Algeria as saying that Saddam first made contact with Algerian authorities Feb. 27, hours before President Bush announced the allied cease-fire.

The sources, according to Le Monde, said the Iraqi leader expressed bitterness at having been "abandoned" by the Soviet Union and wanted to know if Algeria would grant him political asylum. France reportedly was informed of the request, Le Monde said. French officials, contacted here Friday, would not confirm the story.

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker said he was not aware of the report. "The question of what might or might not happen in the aftermath is a matter that would have to be discussed with our coalition partners," Baker said.

According to the story in Le Monde, Algerian authorities accepted Saddam's request on the condition that his successors in Baghdad agreed and that the U.S.-led Persian Gulf coalition pledged not to pursue him in Algeria for war crimes.

President Bush was asked at his press conference Friday in Washington if the United States would be willing, as the price of getting Saddam out of Iraq, not to bring war crimes charges against him. Bush replied: " . . . We cannot absolve anyone from his responsibility under international law. . . . I would leave that matter to the international system of justice."

Le Monde said that according to the Algerian sources, Saddam had also considered exile in Sudan and Yemen, both countries that supported Iraq in the gulf war, but rejected the idea because those countries are too close to Israel. Israel has pledged reprisals against Saddam for launching Scud missile at Israeli cities.

by CNB