Iraqi Visits Morocco on Summit Issue

A senior Iraqi envoy arrived in Rabat on Tuesday after Baghdad hinted that it might accept Morocco’s appeal for a “last chance” Arab summit to avoid war in the Persian Gulf.

First Deputy Prime Minister Taha Yassin Ramadan had said on leaving Baghdad that Iraq supports “any serious Arab action at any level that would serve the Arab nation.”

Ramadan will deliver a message from President Saddam Hussein to King Hassan II of Morocco. Diplomats said they expect that it will set his conditions for attending.

In Cairo, a senior government official said that Egypt is still studying Morocco’s summit invitation. President Hosni Mubarak made a surprise trip to Libya on Tuesday and met leader Moammar Kadafi for talks on the gulf situation. No details were released.

Also Tuesday, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev dispatched two senior diplomats to sound out Arab leaders on the chances of holding an Arab summit.

The Soviets retain close ties in the Arab world because of their past arming of Iraq in its war against Iran, their longtime backing of the Palestine Liberation Organization and their ties with Kadafi.

French President Francois Mitterrand expressed hope that an Arab summit would lead to peace. “It’s absolutely necessary that Iraq budge from its position of refusing everything,” he told a news conference in Paris.

Ramadan, quoted by the Iraqi News Agency, said Hussein would attend the summit if Iraq’s views on the site and issues to be discussed are taken into consideration. Baghdad had earlier appeared to reject the summit call.