Gorbachev Dispatches Top Aide to Mideast With a Message for Hussein : Diplomacy: Soviets seek a peaceful resolution to the crisis. France's president heads for the region to review troops.
Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev sent his top foreign policy adviser to the Middle East on Wednesday to explore with Arab leaders the possibility of a peaceful resolution of the Persian Gulf crisis. Yevgeny M. Primakov, a member of Gorbachev's policy-making Presidential Council and one of his closest advisers, is scheduled to arrive in Baghdad today with a message from the Soviet leader for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Japanese Foreign Minister Sosuke Uno said in Cairo that his country wants to expand its role in the Middle East from an aid donor to a political partner in promoting peace. Uno, on his first trip to the Middle East, arrived in Cairo on Friday after talks in Damascus, Syria, and Amman, Jordan. He is due in Israel today. "We recognize that peace cannot be achieved through the payment of money alone," he said after an hourlong meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.