Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 25, 1993 TAG: 9308250020
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: LONDON LENGTH: Short
Hamed Jubouri, 61, who retired last week as Iraq's ambassador to Tunisia, and Hisham Shawi, 62, who until Monday was Iraqi ambassador to Canada, said they had decided the time had come for open opposition to the regime. Shawi told a crowded news conference that Saddam's government had "no other objective but the maintenance of its tyrannical power, notwithstanding defeat, disgrace and total ruin."
Jubouri said that as many as seven upper-echelon Iraqi diplomats have quietly defected from Saddam's government. None, however, has sought to make such a media splash or joined so openly with the opposition.
The two diplomats had not yet applied for permanent asylum in Britain. The British government, which seemed to be taken by surprise by the defections, said they had entered the country as visitors and would be allowed to remain for the time being.
According to Reuter, the Iraqi Embassy in Amman, Jordan, reacted by saying that Jubouri and Shawi both left Iraq's foreign service last month on reaching retirement age.
The ambassadors were presented to reporters by the Iraqi National Congress, one of several exile-based opposition groups seeking the overthrow of Saddam. The congress is trying to draw together mainstream and ethnic minority critics of the regime, but its impact is uncertain.
by CNB