Saddam may be offered immunity

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday threw open the prospect that Saddam Hussein could be granted immunity from war crimes prosecution if he left Iraq voluntarily and went into exile.

Mr Rumsfeld, one of the most “hawkish” members of the US administration who has been assumed to be leading demands for military intervention, insisted that he would prefer to see a peaceful resolution to the current crisis.

In an interview with ABC Television, Mr Rumsfeld said that the question of legal immunity from prosecution would be a matter for the US Justice Department.

He added however: “But if to avoid a war, I personally would recommend that some provision be made so that the senior leadership in that country and their families could be provided haven in some other country, and I think that would be a fair trade to avoid a war.”

His comments came against a background of reports suggesting that Saudi Arabia has been secretly canvassing a plan to give Saddam a final chance to go into exile rather than face war.

Under the plan, the Arab League would nominate a delegation to go to Baghdad to urge the Iraqi dictator to give up power and leave the country.

The delegation would only go if it became apparent that there was no other way of averting conflict.

In Baghdad today, the chief United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency Mohamed ElBaradei arrived for two days of talks with Iraqi officials.

The two men were expected to deliver a tough message to the Iraqis that they must start co-operating “proactively” with the inspectors if they wanted to head off a war.