Envoy Brings Gorbachev Note to Baghdad; 4 Germans Freed

A Soviet envoy handed a letter from President Mikhail S. Gorbachev to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on Friday, as Hussein ordered the release of four Germans held as “human shields” at strategic locations.

The official Iraqi news agency gave few details of the meeting between Yevgeny Primakov, a member of Gorbachev’s presidential council, and Hussein. It was the second high-level meeting between the two sides since Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait on Aug. 2.

Its brief account said only that Hussein and Primakov discussed bilateral relations and regional developments, and “affirmed their desire for peace.”

Meanwhile, in Ankara, Turkey, Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu pledged $300 million in emergency aid to that country, the last slice of Tokyo’s package for “front-line” states hit hard by the economic blockade of Iraq.

Kaifu arrived in Ankara on Thursday on his five-nation Middle East tour.

Japan also extended $500 million to Turkey in the form of trade insurance outside the framework of the emergency aid, a spokesman for Kaifu said.

In Amman, Jordan, the politician who brought the four freed Germans out of Iraq said the men had been detained in “internment camps.” Brigitta Koegler, a former member of the old East German Parliament, said she hopes to return to Baghdad soon to try to win freedom for more Germans, including women. The group, which had flown from Baghdad to Amman, later left for Frankfurt.

One of the four former hostages, a young man, said he was held at an Iraqi base. He said he had been treated well and indicated that British men were detained with him.

“I cannot tell you exactly where it was located, but I know also English people were treated well. They are all healthy,” he said.