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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 6, 1991                   TAG: 9103061184
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NICOSIA, CYPRUS                                LENGTH: Medium

BASRA REVOLT BEING CRUSHED/ KURDS SAY THEY CONTROL FIVE CITIES

Also today, Iraq's government-controlled al-Baath newspaper carried an article signed by Saddam's son Udai and denying reports that he had been killed in Basra.

The article attacked Western news media for reporting Udai Hussein's death, calling them "nothing but stray dogs barking." He has been an aide to his father and editor of al-Baath.

The most serious anti-government protests and riots of Saddam's 12-year rule have spread across Iraq since the country's disastrous defeat in the Persian Gulf War.

Washington said Tuesday that the allies would not intervene in Iraq's troubles, and it told Iran and other outsiders to stay out of the unrest.

Iran professed neutrality in the war, but has helped Iraq's Kurds and also backs an opposition group led by a fundamentalist Shiite Moslem cleric.

The Tehran leadership has made it clear that it would like to see Shiite fundamentalists govern Iraq, its foe in a 1980-88 war.

Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency said Alexander Belonogov, a Soviet deputy foreign minister, arrived in Tehran today to discuss the revolt in Iraq and other postwar developments.

His visit coincided with one by Saadoun Hammadi, a senior aide to Saddam.

Hammadi arrived Tuesday, carrying a letter from Saddam to Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani, IRNA said. Its contents were not disclosed.

Overall, it appeared that Saddam was maintaining his grip on power despite the revolts in about a dozen Iraqi cities, U.S. military officers said today in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, speaking on condition of anonymity.

One officer said the situation in the south remained "fluid," but that "active resistance" had ceased in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city.

On Tuesday, the officials had reported signs of an impending tank battle between members of the Republican Guard, Saddam's most loyal forces, and army units believed to be rebelling because of Iraq's punishing defeat in the war.

The U.S. officers, relying mainly on aerial surveillance, said today that it now appeared the guard had gained the upper hand and that all troops were "on the same side."

One officer said, however, that Karbala, the Shiite Muslims' holy city southwest of Baghdad, was in turmoil. They also reported strife in An Najaf, another city of Shiite shrines farther south.

The Voice of the People of Kurdistan, an opposition radio station, reported on the rebellion in the Kurdish region on Tuesday and urged on the revolt in the south.

"Kurdistan, with its power, strength and its well-known history of struggle, is with you to shake the throne of the criminal tyrant in Baghdad and alleviate your suffering and plight," said the radio, monitored in London.