Saddam demotes foreign minister after setbacks

By Nadim Ladki

BEIRUT (Reuters): President Saddam Hussein has demoted his foreign minister after a series of diplomatic setbacks that drew sharp criticism from the Iraqi leader's influential son Uday, political analysts said on Thursday.

Saddam reshuffled his cabinet on Wednesday, moving Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf from the foreign ministry to the information ministry and appointing veteran Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz as Acting Foreign Minister.

He named Iraq's ambassador to Austria, Naji Sabri Ahmed, to the vacant post of minister of state for foreign affairs.

The analysts said the move was a clear demotion of Sahaf, foreign minister since 1992, three weeks after an Arab summit failed to agree on a joint position from UN sanctions against Baghdad and ties between 1991 Gulf War enemies, Kuwait and Iraq.

Uday, through his Babel newspaper, criticized on April 5 the Iraqi delegation's handling of the debate at the summit, saying it had ignored Saddam's instructions not to discuss the Iraq issue and to focus instead on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Iraq refused at the summit to change its hardline position that Arabs lift the sanctions, imposed for Baghdad's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. It also rejected to make any apologies or give any guarantees on the future to Kuwait.

Sahaf was a key member of the delegation, led by Izzat Ibrahim, vice-chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, and also including Aziz.

A few weeks earlier, Babel had criticized Sahaf for engaging in a heated exchange with his Kuwaiti opposite number during an Arab foreign ministers meeting preparing for the summit.

"Sahaf's performance has been poor," an Arab analyst said. "We know that he doesn't charter Iraq's foreign policy but his undiplomatic and sometime plainly rude attitude has cost Iraqi diplomacy, especially on the Arab front."

Another analyst said Uday's swipes at Sahaf were a key factor in his demotion and his appointment to the information ministry could be a prelude to sacking him from the government.

"Uday has been behind the sacking of two information ministers over the past decade. I very much doubt that he would give Sahaf any respite now that he is in his territory," he said.

Uday owns a number of other weekly newspapers and Shabab television station.

Sahaf was director-general of Iraqi television and radio stations during the 1980s and has been ambassador to a number of countries.

"Uday's influence seems to be growing further. He has shown more than ever before that he is in a formidable position and should be taken seriously by the regime's strongmen," he said.

"No one would want to get on the wrong side of him."

Aziz's appointment as acting foreign minister came as no surprise. He had served as foreign minister during the 1980s up until shortly after the Gulf War in 1991.

He has never been away from the international scene and led Iraq's delegation to a round of talks with United Nation's Secretary-General Kofi Annan earlier this year.

Working with him would be Ahmed, who enters the government as the new minister of state. Ahmed is an experienced diplomat who was undersecretary of the then culture and information ministry during the 1991 Gulf War.

"Ahmed, an able diplomat, will work under the patronage of the vastly experienced Aziz. If he proves his capabilities, I think he could then be made Foreign Minister," the analyst said.

The changes at the foreign ministry came as a senior U.S. State Department official was touring Iraq's neighbors Jordan, Syria and Turkey, to discuss changes Washington wants to make to the UN sanctions against Baghdad.

U.S. officials say the reviewed sanctions would tighten controls on Iraq's imports of military goods and its oil revenues while easing restrictions on imports of civilian goods.

Iraq has said it would accept nothing less than a total lifting of sanctions. It has also vowed not to let arms inspectors back into the country before the embargo ends.

Saddam also named Information Minister Humam Abdul-Khaleq Abdul-Ghafur, who has been in his post for the last three years, as Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research.