TOSHKA, Egypt, January 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak criticized Sunday, January 12, U.S. plans to invade Iraq, saying a war would pour oil on the flames in the volatile region and have disastrous consequences.

"A military attack against Iraq would have terrible consequences that no one can predict, which will pour oil on the fire," Mubarak said in a speech in the southern town of Toshka where he was inaugurating a desert irrigation project, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

"No country in the world can stop the United States from attacking Iraq, but we are warning against the consequences of such an attack and trying to find a way to prevent it," he said.

Amid the heavy U.S. troop build-up in the region, Mubarak said chances of war were about fifty-fifty.

Mubarak said Iraqi President Saddam Hussein also shoulders responsibility for resolving the crisis and proving to the world he possesses no weapons of mass destruction.

"We told him he had to bear with a lot of things in order to avoid the extermination of his people," he said, criticizing Saddam for having said that UN weapons inspectors were engaged in spying.

Mubarak has previously come out against a war on Iraq, which he warned would destabilize the region already wracked by the 27-month Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and has asked Baghdad to facilitate as much as possible the work of UN weapons inspectors.

In the 1991 Gulf War, Egypt contributed thousands of troops to the U.S.-led coalition that liberated Kuwait after a seven-month Iraqi occupation.

Turning attention to Saddam's December 7 public letter of apology to the Kuwaitis for Iraq's 1990 invasion, Mubarak said the Iraqi leader "sent a message of apology to Kuwait in which he insulted everyone," referring to Saddam's accusations that Kuwait's leaders were protecting U.S. interests.

Mubarak also said Egypt has given conditional approval of Turkey's proposal to send an envoy to Saddam in order to avert a war.

Israel’s souring relationship with Britain

Turning to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Mubarak said Israel's decision not to allow the Palestinians to attend a London conference on reforming the Palestinian Authority had more to do with Israel's souring relationship with Britain than anything else.

Mubarak said the travel ban was a reaction to British Prime Minister Tony Blair's refusal to meet Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month in London, while agreeing to see Israeli Labor leader Amram Mitzna.

"Without a return to the negotiating table, there cannot be an end to violence," the Egyptian president added.