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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 6, 1991                   TAG: 9103061191
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NICOSIA, CYPRUS                                LENGTH: Short

SADDAM PUTS COUSIN IN CHARGE

Saddam Hussein has sacked his interior minister and replaced him with a cousin who is widely accused of being being responsible for atrocities in Kuwait during the Iraqi occupation.

The action came amid reports of rebellion against Saddam in northern and southern Iraq.

Baghdad radio said Saddam appointed Ali Hassan al-Majid as the new minister, in charge of internal security affairs, immigration and naturalization. Al-Majid was governor of Kuwait during the occupation.

In addition to the family connection, al-Majid is a personal friend of Saddam. He led army units that crushed a rebellion in the northern Kurdistan region in 1989 during which Iraqi regulars used chemical weapons against their own people. Thousands of people died.

The radio did not say why Saddam fired Samir Mohammed Abdul-Wahhab. Abdul-Wahhab is a member of the command of Iraq's Baath Socialist Party.

Al-Majid became governor of Kuwait after the emirate was occupied Aug. 2. It was annexed six days later as Iraq's 19th province. The annexation decree was annulled Tuesday by the ruling Revolutionary Command Council, which Saddam chairs.

Baghdad radio also said the council decided to abolish the Ministry of Local Governments, headed by al-Majid and responsible for administrative affairs of the 18 Iraqi provinces.

A separate radio said the council had decided to reward members of Saddam's Republican Guard for their "heroic stands in the mother of all battles" by giving each soldier an additional $300 a month.

by CNB