Hussein Calls Arafat a ‘Traitor,’ Paper Reports

CAIRO —  Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has accused PLO leader Yasser Arafat of being a traitor for failing to return to Baghdad after the funeral of two aides assassinated last month in Tunis, the government-supervised Cairo daily Al Akhbar reported today.

Arafat, a Hussein supporter, left Baghdad two days before the fighting started in the Persian Gulf area, and the newspaper said Hussein later sent him a critical note.

“Al Akhbar has learned that (Hussein) sent a message last week to Arafat, accusing him of being a traitor and saying he fled Baghdad to avoid the war,” the newspaper said in a front-page story.

There was no immediate comment on the report from the Egyptian government, which is a staunch supporter of the U.S.-led coalition fighting to liberate Kuwait, or from the Palestine Liberation Organization office in Cairo.

The newspaper said Hussein’s message to Arafat was handed over to PLO headquarters in Tunis by Iraq’s ambassador to Tunisia.

“Arafat left Baghdad two days before the eruption of war in the Gulf to take part in the funeral of his two senior aides and a bodyguard in Tunis and did not return to Baghdad as promised,” the newspaper said without quoting sources for the report.

Hamza Abullah, a Palestinian believed to be working for radical Palestinian guerrilla leader Abu Nidal, is accused of killing Salah Khalef, also known as Abu Iyad, Hayel Abdelhamid, known as Abu Houl, and Mahmoud El Amri, a PLO bodyguard.

One newspaper quoted Hussein as rebuking Arafat for “falling into the arms of the reactionary camp.”

Arafat swung behind Hussein after Iraq invaded Kuwait last August.