Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said yesterday that he feared the recent
death verdict against ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and its execution
would fuel sectarian and ethnic violence in Iraq.
Mubarak made the remarks in statements to editors-in-chief
of the Egyptian national newspapers and the Middle East News Agency (MENA) on
his way back home Wednesday from his three-nation tour.
The trial of Saddam and six of his aides on charges of genocide against Kurds
resumed in Baghdad on Wednesday after Saddam and two of his senior aides were
sentenced to death on Sunday in a separate trial of Dujail case, in which 148
people were executed in the aftermath crackdown on the town following a failed
assassination attempt against Saddam in 1982.
On the situation in Iraq, Mubarak said that Egypt is making efforts to
protect interests of the Iraqi people, stop bloodshed and support the Iraqi
national unity.
Mubarak returned to Cairo on Wednesday after visits to Russia, China and
Kazakhstan. While in Beijing he attended the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation
Summit which is seen as an important conference to promote China and Africa to
construct new strategic partnership and strengthen cooperation between China and
Africa.
