Brandt Won’t Travel to Iraq Alone, Germany Indicates

The German government said Friday that it is confident that other European personalities will join former Chancellor Willy Brandt on his controversial trip to Iraq next week.

“It is highly unlikely that Herr Brandt will travel alone,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Juergen Chrobog said.

The statement appeared to imply that former Italian Prime Minister Emilio Colombo and former Belgian Finance Minister Willy de Clercq might join Brandt on the trip to Baghdad, where Brandt is expected to seek release of European hostages.

German Chancellor Helmut Kohl had asked the European Community president, Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, to suggest to U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar that Colombo and De Clercq travel to Iraq as special envoys.

Perez de Cuellar, in talks with Brandt on Wednesday, wished the former chancellor good luck but declined to name him as a U.N envoy. On Thursday, Britain reacted angrily to the planned trip, saying that such visits must be discouraged and that London was not consulted.

But German government spokesman Hans Klein said Friday that the trip is in agreement with a European Community summit decision made last weekend in Rome to discourage isolated visits to Baghdad.

“In its activities, the federal government strictly adheres to the Oct. 28 declaration of the European Council in Rome,” Klein said.