950824

Hussein accuses Saddam

of plotting another

Kuwait invasion

AMMAN: King Hussein has turned sharply against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, accusing him of plotting a fresh invasion of Kuwait and saying he must make major changes before Iraq can escape economic sanctions.

He stopped short, however, of cutting trade ties with Iraq - Baghdad's main link with the outside world - because he said it would deny food and medicine to a population already suffering under sanctions for five years.

The remarks, in a television speech on Wednesday, were the king's first public comments in Jordan since he granted asylum to high-level Iraqi defectors on August 8.

It was also the harshest public criticism of Saddam ever delivered by the king, who antagonised the West and many Arab leaders in 1990 by expressing sympathy for Saddam after his invasion of Kuwait.

The king said he was "shocked" when Lieutenant-General told him Iraq had discussed attacking Kuwait and Saudi Arabia days before his defection.

He has high praise for Hussein Kamel Hassan the most prominent defector, Saddam's son-in-law and the mastermind of his secret military programmes saying he had made him realise the true situation in Iraq for the first time.

The king made the 45-minute speech a day after discussing Iraq with senior US diplomats who have been touring the Middle East to increase pressure on Saddam.

Expressing support for the Iraqi people in their "long night", the king spoke of Iraq's need for "human rights, freedom, democracy and pluralism".

He echoed the US view that UN sanctions will end only when Saddam meets all UN demands, such as accounting for Kuwaitis missing since the Iraq invasion and improving human rights.

Iraq has hoped the resume oil exports if it cooperates in eliminating its weapons of mass destruction. The UN official heading that programme, Rolf Ekeus, cited progress hours before the king spoke.

Jordanians across the spectrum have expressed nervousness since the defections and Hussein Kamel's subsequent call at a news conference in the king's palace for the overthrow of Saddam.

Jordan receives all its 75,000 barrels per day of oil from Iraq and exports some $450 million of goods a year to Iraq. Businessmen also want to keep access to a market that could be lucrative after sanctions.

The United States has requested that Jordan stop buying Iraqi oil but King Hussein denied there was pressure and said Jordan would continue the imports.

However, he said Jordan was taking the precaution of seeking other sources "in the event of an emergency that may threaten the continued arrival of its needs of oil from Iraq, even for a period."-Reuter