ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- A judge has ruled that a former Somali prime minister who has been living quietly in the U.S. for the last 14 years can be deposed in a federal lawsuit alleging he oversaw war crimes and other abuses against his own people.

In a television appearance on Thursday to extol the virtues of a portable computer his socialist government plans to introduce at public schools, Chavez said youngsters had stopped him in the street to tell him they saw him on television.

"Saddam Hussein killed more Arabs and Muslims than any other Middle Eastern leader in recent history.