Saddam apologises for Kuwaiti invasion

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein apologised to the Kuwaiti people yesterday for his 1990-1991 occupation and urged them to struggle against foreign armies.

"We apologise to God for any deed that angered him in the past, which we might not have known of and is blamed on us, and on this basis we also apologise to you," a letter from Saddam to the Kuwaiti people read out on Iraqi state television said.

In an apparent reference to the US military presence in Kuwait, the statement read by Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al Sahaf urged the Kuwaiti people to join Iraq in resisting the occupation of foreign forces.

"Why will not the faithful, the devoted and the holy warriors in Kuwait meet with their counterparts in Iraq under the blanket of their creator, instead of under the blanket of London or Washington and the Zionist entity, to discuss their matters on top of which is the jihad (holy struggle) against the occupation of infidel armies," the statement said.

The letter was read on Iraqi television as Baghdad handed a list of its weapons programmes to UN inspectors, as demanded in a UN Security Council resolution last month.

The US alleges Baghdad has biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programmes in violation of UN agreements reached after the 1991 Gulf War when a coalition led by Washington forced invading Iraqi troops out of Kuwait. Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.

The US has threatened to lead another military coalition against Iraq if it does not comply with United Nations resolutions to give up any weapons of mass destruction.