Algeria Denies Report of Asylum for Hussein : Politics: French paper says Iraqi president requested safe haven. Iraqi envoy rejects story.

The French newspaper Le Monde reported in its Friday afternoon editions that defeated Iraqi President Saddam Hussein sought and has been given a promise of asylum in Algeria. The Algerian Foreign Ministry flatly denied the report, describing it as “a journalist’s fable.”

Le Monde quoted what it called reliable sources in Algeria as saying that Hussein first made contact with Algerian authorities Wednesday, hours before President Bush announced the allied cease-fire.

The sources, according to Le Monde, said the Iraqi leader expressed bitterness at having been “abandoned” by the Soviet Union and wanted to know if Algeria would grant him political asylum. France was reportedly informed of the request, Le Monde said.

French officials, contacted here Friday, would not confirm the story. “If it has happened, I am not aware of it,” said a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry.

And at the United Nations, Iraq’s Ambassador Abdul Amir Anbari denied the report, telling a reporter who asked him about it: “This is a silly question.”

In Washington, Secretary of State James A. Baker III said he was not aware of the report.

“Let me simply say as we have said before, I don’t think many tears would be shed if Saddam Hussein were to leave power in Iraq,” Baker said. “The question of what might or might not happen in the aftermath is a matter that would have to be discussed with our coalition partners.”

According to the Le Monde story, Algerian authorities accepted Hussein’s request on the condition that his successors in Baghdad agreed and that the U.S.-led Persian Gulf coalition pledged not to pursue him in Algeria for war crimes.

President Bush was asked at his press conference Friday in Washington if the United States would be willing, as the price of getting Hussein out of Iraq, not to bring war crimes charges against him. Bush replied: “. . . We cannot absolve anyone from his responsibility under international law. . . . I would leave that matter to the international system of justice. . . .”

The Le Monde story said that Algerian authorities agreed to the asylum request several hours after it was made. According to the Algerian sources, Hussein had also considered exile in Sudan and Yemen, both countries that supported Iraq in the Gulf War, but rejected the idea because those countries were too close to Israel.

Israel has pledged reprisals against the Iraqi leader for launching missile attacks at its cities.

“An added advantage of (asylum in) Algiers,” Le Monde said, “is that it is a good distance from Israel, from which the Iraqi president fears a low blow.”

The Algerian government of President Chadli Bendjedid was under great political pressure to take the Iraqi side in the conflict. Parliamentary elections in the North African country are set for June, and the opposition Islamic Salvation Front has threatened to make the war a major issue.

According to Le Monde, Algerian officials feared that to deny Hussein’s request for asylum could severely have damaged the government’s hope for reelection.

Another rumored destination for the Iraqi leader is Mauritania, where several unconfirmed reports say that his wife and children have been sheltered for several months. This has been denied by Mauritanian officials.

SEEKING ASYLUM

Reports that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was seeking asylum abroad appeared to be erroneous. But it is not unusual for ousted or toppled strongmen to flee from power. In recent years, the list has included the following: WHO: Ferdinand Marcos WHERE: Philippines WHEN: 1986 WHAT HAPPENED: A presidential election was held in 1986 amid allegations of widespread fraud. A few weeks later, leading military allies of Marcos quit their posts to protest the rigged elections and international pressure was put on him to step down. On Feb. 26, Marcos ended his 20-year tenure and left the country. DESTINATION: Offered asylum in the U.S.; died in Hawaii in 1989. WHO: Jean-Claude Duvalier WHERE: Haiti WHEN: 1986 WHAT HAPPENED: Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier took power in 1971 after the death of his father, Francois Duvalier. After weeks of unrest, he fled aboard a U.S. Air Force jet on Feb. 7, ending a 28-year dictatorship by the Duvalier family. DESTINATION: Accepted by France. WHO: Idi Amin WHERE: Uganda WHEN: 1979 WHAT HAPPENED: Amin, who took power in 1971, was linked to the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of his compatriots. In 1978, Uganda annexed a portion of Tanzania. The next year, an invasion force gained control of southern Uganda. Amin’s forces capitulated and he fled the country. DESTINATION: Initially to Libya and then to Saudi Arabia. WHO: Shah of Iran WHERE: Iran WHEN: 1979 WHAT HAPPENED: An Islamic fundamentalist revolution forced the ailing shah to leave his country on Jan. 16, 1979. He hopped from Egypt to Morocco to the Bahamas and then to Mexico. On Oct. 22, he flew secretly to New York for medical treatment. Although the U.S. refused to let him live here permanently, his admittance led to the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. DESTINATION: Eventually to Panama and then to Egypt, where he died in 1980. WHO: Anastasio Somoza WHERE: Nicaragua WHEN: 1979 WHAT HAPPENED: The U.S.-backed Somoza family ruled Nicaragua for more than 30 years before the dictator was ousted by the Sandinistas in July, 1979, in a bloody civil war. DESTINATION: Killed in exile in Paraguay in 1980. SOURCE: Associated Press, Los Angeles Times