Iraq president ready to testify at Saddam trial

BAGHDAD: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said on Tuesday he was ready to testify at his predecessor Saddam Hussein's genocide trial, in which the deposed leader is accused of slaughtering Kurdish civilians.

Talabani is himself a member of Iraq's Kurdish minority and had been under pressure to give evidence, despite his personal opposition to the death penalty, which Saddam will face if convicted.

Talabani said at a press conference to welcome Dominic Asquith, the new British ambassador to Iraq that he would testify "if asked".

"The trial will enhance the national unity in Iraq and prove to the world that relations between the Kurds and the Arabs is very good," he said.

As he was speaking, Kurdish villagers were testifying before the Iraqi High Tribunal that Saddam's forces gassed their villages during the 1987-1988 Anfal campaign, which prosecutors allege left 182,000 Kurds dead.