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NEWS 1/10/00 ­ 7/10/00



NEWS 1/10/00 to 7/10/00

There are two supplements this week. The first is the usual collection of
pieces that seem interesting but aren't entirely news, or are only
indirectly linked to Iraq. The second, also sent separately, is to do with
the recent fighting between the Turkish Kurdish Workers Party and the Iraqi
Patriotic Union of Kurdistant in northern Iraq.

Note that a more comprehensive weekly news bulletin is available at:
 http://www.egroups.com/group/iac-news-digests

NEWS (in this message):

*  Taliban says plane to Iraq denied permission to fly over Iran
*  US gives $4m to Iraqi rebels
*  More protest flights to Baghdad
*  Yemeni plane lands in Iraq
*  Egypt set to open cultural centre in Baghdad
*  Iraq seeks permission to use Iran's airspace for Russian planes
*  Syria seeks end to Iraq sanctions
*  Aeroflot to Resume Flights to Iraq
*  A civil airplane from Cairo to intentionally break the sanctions on Iraq
*  Iraqi airlines to be opened very soon in Damascus
*  Opening an Iraqi opposition bureau in Terhan
*  Kuwait rushes police to Iraq border
*  Saddam offers to fight Israeli 'vagabonds'
*  UK  Turkey 'pays compensation for Kurdish raid'
*  Moroccan flight lands in Baghdad in new test of air embargo
*  First Gulf state, Tunisia join flow of flights to Iraq
*  Tunisia, Turkey join solidarity flights to Iraq
*  In slap at U.S., Turkey allows aid into Iraq
*  Annan complains about high amount of 'holds' in Iraq aid program
*  Iraqi TV announces arrival of Algerian plane at Baghdad Airport
*  Kurdish PUK says PKK attacks continue despite cease-fire announcement
*  UAE 'will win major Iraqi reconstruction deals'
*  Authorities reportedly execute eight people for defacing Saddam murals
*  Arab states to hold summit on 21st
*  Lebanon to give Iraq medical aid

SUPPLEMENT (sent separately):

*  Iranian daily responds to Iraqi daily on two countries' eight-year-long
war
*  Turkish drought worsens regional water row ­ Iraq and Syria say new dams
threaten supply
*  Editorial: Iraqi sanctions are a dead end (Seattle Times ­ a very
hard-hitting attack on American policy)
*  Despite U.S. opposition, Hussein in `great shape'  (Chicago Tribune)
* A Nominee's Long Road to 'No' (on controversy surrounding US Iraqi policy
with regard to the next US ambassador to Kuwait)
*  Iraqi smugglers net oil bonanza
*  Chavez a new revolutionary (account of the first foreign head of state to
visit Iraq since the war)
*  Saddam sells medicines and aid for life's little luxuries (The Times)
*  Turkey Warns of Retaliation If U.S. Makes Genocide Charge (Washington
Post)
*  Cheney, Lieberman differ on dealing with US foes

KURDISH SUPPLEMENT (sent separately):

*  Kurdish clashes leave 22 dead in northern Iraq: faction
*  Barzani Arrives in Ankara
*  PUK attacks against PKK, part of a larger plan to eliminate PKK [general
article on background]
*  PUK peshmergas kill five PKK militants in northern Iraq
*  Kurdish Pkk Rebels Say Ceasefire with Iraqi Kurds
*  Talabani And Barzani Are Invited to a Summit in London
*  PUK stops the war


http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/meast/10/01/iran.afghanistan.iraq.ap/index.htm
l

*  TALIBAN SAYS PLANE TO IRAQ DENIED PERMISSION TO FLY OVER IRAN
October 1, 2000

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Iran refused an Afghan aircraft carrying relief
goods to Iraq permission to fly over its territory because of U.N. sanctions
against Iraq and Afghanistan, the Taliban foreign ministry said Sunday.

The Afghan aircraft also was carrying athletes to Iraq, the foreign ministry
said in a statement. There were no details about the athletes or the kind of
humanitarian aid being donated by Afghanistan's hardline Islamic Taliban
rulers.

It's also not clear when the aircraft was denied permission.

The United Nations imposed limited sanctions on the Taliban last November
after they refused to hand over Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, who is
accused by the United States of masterminding the bombings of its embassies
in Africa in August 1998. Washington wants bin Laden to stand trial in the
United States or a third country.

Iraq also faces U.N. sanctions, which were sharply criticized by the Taliban
foreign ministry statement as U.S.-inspired and aimed at the world's
poorest.

"We are concerned about the plight and suffering of the Iraqi people," the
statement said.

After Iraq, the U.N. has targeted Afghanistan, it said. "We urge the Muslim
countries and the world to help lift sanctions," the statement said.

Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world, has been devastated
by more than two decades of civil war. The Taliban have made international
appeals to lift sanctions and increase humanitarian aid.

But the Taliban, who rule nearly 95 percent of Afghanistan, including the
capital Kabul, are under bitter criticism from many Western countries for
their human rights abuses and a harsh version of Islam that represses women,
forbidding them from work and education.


http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2000/10/01/stifgnmid01006.html

* US GIVES $4M TO IRAQI REBELS
Marie Colvin, Sunday Times, October 1 2000

FIVE days of negotiations in London last week ended with an American
undertaking to give Iraqi opponents of Saddam Hussein $4m under an agreement
that will see them resume operations inside Iraq for the first time in six
years.

In one of the most controversial parts of the agreement, the Americans
committed themselves to fund the opening of an Iraqi National Congress (INC)
office in Tehran. The INC, a broad coalition of Iraqi opposition groups that
has been rejuvenated in the past year with help from Washington, hopes to
use Iran as a base for infiltrating southern Iraq. It will also operate
inside Kurdistan to the north.

Iraqi sources said the American move had been largely due to the efforts of
Vice-President Al Gore. Iraq has become an issue in the American
presidential campaign following criticism of US policy by George W Bush,
Gore's rival in the race for the White House. Washington's policy of
isolating Iraq has been undermined as Arab states have renewed relations
with Baghdad. Russia, France, India and even Iceland sent planes despite an
air embargo imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.

The INC will use part of the American money to set up a satellite television
station, probably based in London, and a radio service that will give Iraqis
an alternative to media controlled by Saddam and his family.

It will establish offices in Washington and Kurdistan as well as Tehran. A
group of 174 INC nominees will receive military training from American
forces.

In what Saddam will see as a direct challenge, INC sources said they
intended to mount operations in Iraq aimed at building support for
democracy, helping internal opposition and providing humanitarian relief.

Opposition sources say this could attract disillusioned Iraqi officers and
troops who want to defect but have had no way of crossing international
borders.

SEE ALSO:
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/001003/2000100323.html
OPENING AN IRAQI OPPOSITION BUREAU IN TERHAN


http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=000579381554028&rtmo=gwnVZjwu&atmo=99999
999&pg=/et/00/9/30/wiraq30.html

*  MORE PROTEST FLIGHTS TO BAGHDAD
By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor, Daily Telegraph

ARAB countries are attempting to break down the wall of sanctions around
Iraq. Yemen sent a plane of "humanitarian" suppplies to Baghdad yesterday
and Morocco plans a similar flight today.

This week Jordan became the first Arab country to erode the 10-year flight
ban, while Syria said it might follow suit. The Iraqi dinar gained strength
against the US dollar as Tariq Aziz, Iraq's deputy Prime Minister, predicted
that flights this month - from Russia, France and Iceland, as well as Arab
states - heralded the end of economic sanctions. Mr Aziz said "We highly
appreciate this initiative, which speaks for the stand of Yemen's people and
government which has always called for a lift of the embargo."

Aeroflot and Royal Jordanian are making plans to resume regular flights to
the reopened Saddam International Airport. But a flight chartered by French
anti-sanction activists, and joined by the Labour backbench MP George
Galloway, failed to take off yesterday because it could not get approval
from French and Belgian authorities. Activists blamed behind-the scenes
American pressure for the publicity flop in Paris, officially blamed on a
series of technical hitches. They said they would try again next week.

Mr Galloway said: "It has been a very miserable experience." He was planning
to fly to Amman in Jordan to make the 14-hour overland trip to Baghdad,
where he is due to deliver a speech. Other Britons who were supposed to be
on the protest flight included Lord Rea and Lord Ahmed, and the singer
Kirsty MacColl. The group was led by the former French foreign minister
Claude Cheysson.

Fr Yves Buannic, one of the organisers, condemned the "cowardice of the
French government" for the failure of the mission of "solidarity with the
Iraqi people against one of the biggest injustices of this century". After
organisers failed to reach agreement with a Belgian company to hire the
aircraft, he said: "France - the land of human rights - bends once again
before the American diktat with the complicity of the Belgian authorities.
We apologise to the Iraqi people."

The UN Security Council is divided over the air embargo. Russia, France and
China argue that commercial flights are not covered by sanctions but America
and Britain say it is covered by general sanctions on trade. In a sign of
the weakening of the sanctions regime, UN approval now requires only the
semblance of a humanitarian "component". A Foreign Office spokesman said
last night: "We encourage humanitarian flights to Iraq and assist groups in
presenting requests for flights to the UN sanctions committee."


http://www.timesofindia.com/011000/01mide4.htm
*  YEMENI PLANE LANDS IN IRAQ

BAGHDAD: A Yemeni plane carrying government officials arrived Friday in Iraq
after Saudi Arabia reversed its refusal to let it fly over the kingdom, but
a planned flight from Europe was canceled because the Belgian charter
company couldn't secure permission from its government.

The Yemeni flight, which had been approved by the United Nations, came days
after French and Russian flights challenged the U.N. embargo on Iraq by
failing to wait for authorization from the U.N. sanctions committee. Jordan
is the only other Arab country to send a flight to Baghdad recently; it also
had secured U.N. clearance.

"We are happy to be in beloved Baghdad," Yemeni Deputy Prime Minister and
Foreign Minister Abdul-Kader Bajammal said. "We carry a letter of peace,
love and support along with our sympathy with the people of Iraq, hoping
this will ease their pain and their suffering of 10 years."

Hundreds of Yemenis living in Iraq, waving posters of the Iraqi and Yemeni
presidents, and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz welcomed the Yemeni
Airlines Boeing 727 at Saddam International Airport. Aziz praised the Yemeni
leadership, noting it has been a staunch supporter of lifting the sanctions
imposed for Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

When asked whether he expects more Arab flights, Aziz said: "It is up to the
Arab governments' leaders. If they decide to do the same ... we would
welcome that."

Information Minister Abdel Rehman al-Akwaa also was among the plane's
approximately 50 passengers, which included members of Yemeni unions,
political parties and the parliament. The plane also brought in boxes of
medicine, food and other humanitarian items.

In New York, the U.N. sanctions committee said the flight received
authorization Thursday after answering questions about its purpose from the
United States.

The Saudis granted their permission after Yemeni President Ali Abdullah
Saleh called Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan, a Yemeni government
official said on condition of anonymity. Prince Sultan said the plane could
pass through Saudi air space if it did not fly directly into Iraq, the
Yemeni official said in San`a.

Jordan, which sent a humanitarian flight to Baghdad on Wednesday, allowed
the plane to fly over its territory and on to Iraq.

Saudi officials were not available for comment. The kingdom routinely has
supported Arab League resolutions calling for the sanctions to be lifted,
but also is a close U.S. ally and regularly votes for international
resolutions calling on Iraq to abide by U.N. Security Council resolutions
requiring it to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction.

In Paris, the organizers of another flight to Iraq designed as a symbolic
challenge to the sanctions said Friday they had been forced to cancel their
trip because Belgium refused permission to Brussels International Airlines,
the Belgian charter company, said Sebhi Toma, a spokesman for one of the aid
organization involved, Enfants du Monde, or Children of the World.

A fallback plan to fly to Rome and from there to Baghdad also fell through.
"All the options failed one after another," said Yann Pavlioglou, a member
of Enfants du Monde.

Several noted European personalities had signed up for the trip, including
former Foreign Minister Claude Cheysson and writers Regine Desforges and
Patrick Besson. About 10 French lawmakers and other European lawmakers had
been expected to board the plane, Sebhi said.

On September 22-23, France and Russia flew planes carrying humanitarian aid,
officials, business executives and artists to Iraq, having informed the U.N.
sanctions committee but refusing to wait for its authorization.

The United States criticized the flights as a violation of sanctions, while
Russia and France contend that humanitarian flights do not require clearance
from the U.N. Iraq hailed the flights as evidence that the sanctions regime
was collapsing. (AP)

SEE ALSO:
http://www.dailystarnews.com/200009/30/n0093013.htm#BODY5
KSA TURNS BACK YEMENI JET BOUND FOR BAGHDAD


http://www.voila.co.uk/News/afp/people/001002185534.wr96lyu9.html

*  EGYPT SET TO OPEN CULTURAL CENTRE IN BAGHDAD

BAGHDAD (AFP, 2nd october) - - An Egyptian delegation is expected in Baghdad
soon to open a cultural centre, the official Iraqi newspaper Ath-Thawra said
Monday.

The centre was the focus of talks between Iraq's Information and Culture
Minister Human Abdel Khaleq and Egypt's deputy culture minister, Abu
al-Hassan Salameh, when he visited Baghdad, the paper said.

Salameh was heading an Egyptian delegation that took part for the first time
in the Babylon cultural festival, in which more than 47 countries
participated.

Egypt was part of a US-led military coalition which evicted Iraq from Kuwait
in the 1991 Gulf War but, despite a break in diplomatic ties, it supports a
lifting of the embargo.

The annual festival in the historic city of Babylon, 90 kilometres (55
miles) south of the capital and launched in 1987, ended Sunday with a call
for a lifting of the embargo imposed on Iraq since 1990.

Participants also denounced the "continuing US-British attacks on Iraq",
newspapers said.

Hundreds of people taking part in the 10-day festival demonstrated on
September 27 in Baghdad against the crippling UN sanctions slapped on Iraq
for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
 

http://www.irna.com/newshtm/eng/11202404.htm

*  IRAQ SEEKS PERMISSION TO USE IRAN'S AIRSPACE FOR RUSSIAN PLANES

Tehran, Oct 2, IRNA -- Iraqi Minister of Transport and Communications Ahmad
Murtada Ahmad Khalil in Tehran on Monday called on Iran to permit the use of
its airspace for Russian planes flying to Baghdad.

In a meeting with Iranian Minister of Roads and Transport Mahmoud Hojjati,
Ahmad Khalil said Russian planes are expected to resume regular flights to
Baghdad soon and Iraq seeks the use of Iran's air corridor for Russian
planes. He condemned U.S. action in banning flights to Iraq and said such
actions lack international legitimacy. He said France and Russia have
decided to resume regular flights to Iraq soon. Ahmad Khalil said there are
several Iraqi planes in Iran and asked for permission to send Iraqi
technicians to check them. He added that Iraq also has several planes in the
neighboring states and they have allowed Iraqi technicians to check them for
maintenance. He said Baghdad is ready to let Iran replace Turkey-Syria route
with Iraq-Syria route and has informed the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad of the
matter.

Hojjati said Iran is willing to develop cooperation with Baghdad especially
in the field of transport adding that Iran also prefers to use Iraqi route
instead of Turkey due to unsatisfactory situation in Turkish route. On the
Iraqi airplanes, Hojjati said the planes are not under control of the
Ministry of Roads and Transport and the leaders of the two countries would
reach settlement on the matter. He said the ministry will study the
possibility of giving passage for foreign planes flying to Baghdad and it
would be decided after expert studies.

Hojjati said Iran has good cooperation with Syria and called for Iraqi
participation in a tripartite meeting of Iran, Syria and Iraq to develop
regional cooperation on transport. He said Iran is ready to link its railway
to Iraqi railway network and give ports services to Iraq for shipment of
goods to that country. Hojjati said Iran will host a meeting of
International Union of Railways (UIC) in November and extended an invitation
to his Iraqi counterpart to attend the meeting.

The Iraqi minister said Iraq will send an expert delegation to the meeting.
Ahmad Khalil said that the Syrian railway has linked to the Iraqi railway
system and the Iranian railway can be linked to the Iraqi after expert
studies. He welcomed Iranian proposal to develop railway and land road
transport cooperation between the two countries.

Ahmad Khalil arrived in Tehran on Friday for a four-day visit. He is
expected to hold negotiations with Iranian Minister of Commerce Mohammad
Shariatmadari and directors of Iran-Khodro and Iranian National Posts
Company.

SEE ALSO:
http://www.brecorder.com/story/S00DD/SDJ01/SDJ01138.htm
IRAQ SENDS TRANSPORT, TELECOMMUNICATIONS MINISTERS TO IRAN


http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_952000/952930.stm 

*  SYRIA SEEKS END TO IRAQ SANCTIONS
Monday, 2 October, 2000

President Bashar Assad of Syria has called for an Arab-led campaign to end
the international sanctions imposed on Iraq after the invasion of Kuwait.

President Assad -- whose country backed the American-led military action to
get Iraq out of Kuwait -- said the ten-year sanctions programme needed to be
reviewed.

Speaking in Cairo on his first visit abroad since taking office, President
Assad said the orginal aim had been to punish Baghdad -- but he predicted
that the sanctions would soon lead to the destruction of Iraq.

The Syrian comments come a week after Russia, France and Jordan sent aid
flights to Baghdad -- ignoring American and British concerns that the
flights broke the United Nations sanctions policy.


http://www.iht.com/IHT/TODAY/TUE/IN/iraq.2.html   

*  AEROFLOT TO RESUME FLIGHTS TO IRAQ
International Herald Tribune, October 3, 2000

MOSCOW  - Aeroflot, the Russian flagship airline, said Monday that it had
signed a memorandum with a delegation from Iraqi Airways to restore regular
air service to and from Baghdad, which is under United Nations sanctions,
though no date to begin those flights had been set.

A spokeswoman for Aeroflot, which is 51 percent state-owned, said the
document was signed last week in Moscow after several days of talks.

Regular air service to Iraq has been suspended by UN sanctions since the
1990-91 Gulf War, triggered by Iraq's invasion of neighboring Kuwait.

The spokeswoman quoted the memorandum as saying Aeroflot intended to resume
flights to Iraq ''within the framework of a bilateral interstate agreement
on air services.''

The Russian State Civil Aviation Service declined to comment on whether such
a document had been or was being prepared.

The Aeroflot spokeswoman also said the memorandum called for Aeroflot to
establish a representative office in Iraq and for Iraqi Airways to set up an
office in Moscow.

Vnukovo Airlines, Russia's largest domestic carrier, said last month it,
too, hoped to begin Iraq service and was waiting for government officials to
make a decision.

Russia, along with France, argues that the UN Security Council never adopted
a specific text banning all flights to or from Iraq.

The United States and Britain say all flights are banned unless they are
permitted by the Sanctions Committee.

Both Russia and France have in recent weeks sent flights to Iraq carrying
humanitarian aid, and Jordan and Iceland have said they plan to do so.

Iraq says there are no UN Security Council resolutions governing the 1991
Gulf War cease fire that prevent Baghdad from flying civilian aircraft into
and out of the country. ­ Reuters

SEE ALSO:
*  RUSSIA'S VNUKOVO AIRLINES SAID EYEING AIRCRAFT SALES TO IRAQ ­
http://search.ft.com/search/multi/globalarchive.jsp?docId=001001000762&query
=Iraq&resultsShown=20&resultsToRequest=100
 

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/001003/2000100321.html

*  A CIVIL AIRPLANE FROM CAIRO TO INTENTIONALLY BREAK THE SANCTIONS ON IRAQ
10/3/2000

The Arab committee for lifting up the sanctions on Iraq in Cairo decided on
sending a civil airplane to Baghdad during the week to break the imposed
international sanctions on Iraq.

Ashraf El-Bayoumi, the head of the committee which comprises important
Egyptian political and factional personalities said "the committee decided
on sending an airplane to Baghdad with 150 important personalities from
politicians, universities professors, artists, and intellectuals to violate
the international siege on Iraq yet it carries no medical aids for it only
aims at breaking the siege." By not carrying medical aid, the flight is
intentionally set to defy any UN sanctions provisions on air flights to
Iraq.

He added "we began important steps and we are about to hire an airplane from
Egypt Air in days to head to Baghdad."

Mohammed Sami, the head of the delegation said "this trip does not abide by
the international security council's resolutions."


http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/001003/2000100311.html

*  IRAQI AIRLINES TO BE OPENED VERY SOON IN DAMASCUS
Syria, Politics, 10/3/2000

The London based al-Zaman Arabic daily said on Monday that the Iraqi airline
establishment is preparing to open its offices in Damascus shortly and that
it started maintenance for these planes and appointed a new director for it.

Maintenance work have already started after work stopped 20 years ago
following the boycott of Syrian- Iraqi relations.

A well-informed Syrian source told the paper that the renowned Syrian
businessman Abdul Rahman al-Attar was chosen as the agent for the Iraqi
airlines in Damascus. The Syrian source added that the actual activities of
the offices will start practically after the air sanctions on Iraq will be
lifted.

Iraqi sources in Damascus told the paper's correspondent in Damascus that
the office will run the arrangements of Iraqi passengers' travels including
officials and businessmen through the Syrian airports to the world's cities,
adding that maintenance work will be completed within the two coming weeks.


http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=124657

*  Tunisia plane heads to Baghdad
Wednesday, 4 October 2000

TUNIS, Tunisia, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- A Tunisian plane, carrying doctors,
athletes and medicines, headed to Baghdad Wednesday in a move meant to break
the 10-year embargo imposed by the United Nations on Iraq since its 1990
invasion of neighboring Kuwait.  Tunisia became the third Arab country to
defy the
U.N. boycott after Jordan and Yemen. France and Russia were the first to
have sent planes to Saddam International  Airport after it reopened on
August 17.

Tunisian authorities sent the plane to Baghdad after notifying the U.N.
Boycott Committee and secured permission from concerned countries to use
their air space during the flight.

Some 55 eye doctors, surgeons and officials of Tunisia Red Crescent as
well as a soccer team and four tons of medications were on board the plane.
The soccer team was scheduled to hold a friendly game with an Iraqi team on
Friday.

 Tunisian humanitarian and labor organizations expressed readiness
to prepare another flight to Baghdad mid-November.


http://www.timesofindia.com/041000/04mide6.htm

*  KUWAIT RUSHES POLICE TO IRAQ BORDER
By Ashraf Fouad

KUWAIT: Kuwait has placed police on alert along its border with former
occupier Iraq, where hundreds of stateless Arabs have massed, Kuwaiti and
Western defence officials said on Tuesday.

"The first concern now is the propaganda mileage Iraq can get out of this,"
said a Western defence source, who is monitoring rising tension on the
border.

Sources said Kuwait feared the stateless Arabs, known as Bedoun, could sweep
across the border, acting on orders from Baghdad.

Tension between Kuwait and Iraq has been mounting since Baghdad in August
celebrated the 10th anniversary of its invasion of Kuwait.

Kuwait's main ally the United States, which led the 1991 Gulf War that ended
Iraq's seven month occupation, has warned Baghdad it would use force if it
threatened Gulf Arab neighbours.

Tension mounted further this week as several hundred people, including some
who claim to be Kuwaiti, gathered along the border in the Iraqi section of a
demilitarised zone (DMZ), patrolled by the United Nations.

They are demanding to return to the oil-rich emirate.

Defence sources said the Bedoun were accompanied by Iraqi police, who are
allowed into the DMZ in limited numbers and with light arms.

"From just a few tents yesterday, they now have over 40 tents only 200
metres (yards) from the Kuwaiti border," one defence source said. "They have
been arriving in buses since early morning."

"The situation is stable now and it is more or less a staring game. So far
they have not violated the DMZ rules as they are not armed. But they could
receive orders from Baghdad to cross," a Western defence source told
Reuters.

UN forces on the border are commissioned to observe the area and report
violations. They have the right to use force only for self defence, Western
officers said.

A Kuwaiti defence official earlier told Reuters that the Interior Ministry
had sent additional police troops to the area and placed them on alert.

"For the time being, the Interior Ministry and not the Defence Ministry has
placed security forces near the border with Iraq on alert because the Bedoun
are civilians and only the Interior Ministry deals with civilians," he said.

Bedoun, the Arabic word for without, is used in Kuwait to describe stateless
people who live in Kuwait and say they are Kuwaitis. How to deal with them
is one of the small state's most complicated and sensitive internal issues.

Acting Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah
told Kuwaiti editors on Monday that Kuwait was prepared to deal with "any
emergency and we will not allow these people to cross into Kuwait."

"Everyone knows that these Bedouns are Iraqi citizens who resided in Kuwait
and fled with the Iraqi forces upon their retreat from Kuwait," the Arab
Times quoted him as saying.

Kuwait says thousands of Iraqis who had lived in Kuwait claiming to be
stateless Arabs never returned to the emirate after Baghdad's troops fled at
the end of the Gulf War.

The number of Bedouns in Kuwait has dropped since the war to just over
100,000, from about 280,000. Some stayed in Iraq, others legalised their
status in Kuwait or headed to other countries.

Kuwait says many Bedouns are citizens of neighbouring states like Syria,
Iraq and Iran. Other Bedouns were accused of supporting Iraq when its troops
occupied Kuwait.

Kuwait has introduced measures in recent months to tackle the issue.
Officials said eligible Bedoun would receive Kuwaiti nationality. DNA tests
would be used to verify their lineage.
Anyone found to have provided false information or in possession of a
foreign passport would be referred to the courts. (Reuters)

SEE ALSO [for an account which sees nothing in this but Iraqi badness]:
http://news.24.com/News24/World/Middle_East/0,1113,2-10-35_921049,00.html
IRAQIS MASS ON KUWAIT BORDER


http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_75621.html 

*  SADDAM OFFERS TO FIGHT ISRAELI 'VAGABONDS'
Wednesday 4th October 2000

Saddam Hussein has offered to fight Israel and accused other Arab leaders of
standing back as Jewish "vagabonds" butcher "our children and humiliate our
women".

The Iraqi dictator says he would like to be given a piece of territory by
one of Israel's Arab neighbours so he could mount operations against the
Jewish state.

"Let them give us a small piece of land ... and they will see how we will
quickly shut down Zionism," Baghdad's newspapers quoted the Saddam as
saying.

Saddam was reacting to the latest violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip
where Israeli forces have clashed with Palestinian civilians and gunmen over
the past week. At least 55 people have been killed and more than 1,000
wounded.

The vast majority of casualties have been Palestinians.

The Arabs, he added, have had enough and it is time for their leaders to
"put an end to Zionism .... and if they cannot, Iraq has the capability to
do it alone."

Throughout history, Saddam added, the Jews have never shown valour or
courage.

"They have spent their life in dark corners, bent on collecting money." If
the Israelis seem brave, he said, it is because "the Arab swords have rusted
in their sheaths".

During the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait, Saddam hit Israel with ballistic
missiles. Iraq is formally in a state of war with Israel and has sent troops
to fight along Arab armies in wars against the Jewish state over the past 50
years.

SEE ALSO:
http://news.24.com/News24/World/Middle_East/0,1113,2-10-35_920568,00.html
ARABS MUST RETAKE JERUSALEM: IRAQ [which contains the interesting piece of
information that Saladin came from President Hussein's home town of Tikrit]


http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_956000/956218.stm

*  UK  TURKEY 'PAYS COMPENSATION FOR KURDISH RAID'
 4 October, 2000

An Iraqi Kurdish leader says Turkey has paid compensation for an air raid in
northern Iraq nearly two months ago that killed thirty-eight civilians.

The Turkish news agency Anatolia said the leader of the Kurdish Democratic
Party, Massoud Barzani, told reporters after talks in Ankara that an
investigation had established that the incident was a mistake. He did not
say how much had been paid out.

Ankara has made no comment about the compensation and has not publicly
admitted responsibility for the incident, which occurred when Turkish
military aircraft were pursuing fighters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party
PKK. The Turkish military often carry out operations against PKK rebel camps
inside northern Iraq, which has been outside the control of the Baghdad
government since the end of the Gulf War in 1991.

>From the newsroom of the BBC World Service


http://www.voila.co.uk/News/afp/int/001003102309.bis5vowc.html

*  MOROCCAN FLIGHT LANDS IN BAGHDAD IN NEW TEST OF AIR EMBARGO
4/10/00

BAGHDAD (AFP) - - A flight from Morocco landed at Baghdad's Saddam
International Airport, the third Arab plane in a week to test a UN air
embargo.

Members of a 35-member Moroccan delegation of politicians, trade union
leaders and journalists said they were to meet Deputy Prime Minister Tareq
Aziz before flying home the same day.

"This flight is a message to the (UN Security Council) and the Arab League,"
said the head of the delegation, Mohammad al-Khasasi, quoted by INA. "Other
initiatives will follow."

The Royal Air Maroc flight, also carrying humanitarian aid, was originally
due to leave Casablanca on Sunday to protest the UN-embargo against Iraq and
help normalisation of air transport with Baghdad.

But the flight was postponed over insurance problems, said the organisers.

Saad Qassem Hammudi, an Iraqi official in the welcoming party, called on
Arabs to follow the Moroccan example "and shatter the embargo, teaching
America and its British valets a lesson they will never forget".

In the first Arab flights since sanctions were imposed on Iraq for its 1990
invasion of Kuwait, Jordanian and Yemeni planes flew into Baghdad airport
last week, exploiting a loophole in UN Security Council resolutions.

The Arab initiatives followed Russian and French flights to Iraq since the
airport was reopened in mid-August.

The Security Council is divided on its interpretation of an air embargo
under the sweeping sanctions and whether non-commercial flights need UN
authorisation.

SEE ALSO:
http://www.brecorder.com/story/S00DD/SDJ01/SDJ01121.htm
UN REQUEST DELAYS MOROCCO FLIGHTS TO BAGHDAD
 

http://www.voila.co.uk/News/afp/int/001004103101.knt46wnq.html

*  FIRST GULF STATE, TUNISIA JOIN FLOW OF FLIGHTS TO IRAQ
4/10/00

BAGHDAD (AFP) - - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is to send a plane to Iraq
on Thursday, becoming the first Gulf Arab monarchy to join the stream of
solidarity flights to the sanctions-hit state, Iraqi officials said.

A Tunisair plane, meanwhile, with a team of 20 surgeons and ophthalmologists
as well as a cargo of medicines and medical equipment on board took off for
Baghdad on Wednesday, officials in Tunis said.

Tunisia's national football team was also on the plane and is to play a
friendly match in Baghdad on October 6.

Apart from the latest batch of flights to challenge a UN air embargo,
several countries including the UAE already flew UN-approved aid flights to
Iraq in 1998.

Iraq and the UAE, a longtime supporter of lifting sanctions, formally
renewed diplomatic relations in July after a decade-old break since the
invasion of Kuwait.

"Several Arab organisations and institutions are preparing to send civilian
planes to Baghdad in the framework of direct flights in solidarity with
Iraq," an Iraqi official said, asking not to be named.

In Tehran, Iraq's charge d'affaires Abdulsattar al-Rawi told AFP on Tuesday
that a plane from Libya was also expected in Baghdad "very soon".

The flow of flights proves Washington's isolation in refusing to lift
sanctions, Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said.

"The United States has not managed to isolate Iraq ... We believe the
Americans will realise sooner or later that they are the ones who are
isolated and will fall in line with the international will," he said.

"We are now witnessing a continuous opening towards Iraq on the part of Arab
and non Arab countries," he said Tuesday, receiving a 35-member delegation
of politicians and trade union leaders on a Royal Air Maroc flight.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council disagree on whether
non commercial flights need to be authorised. London and Washington insist
all flights must have approval from the sanctions committee.

In the first Arab flights since sanctions were imposed, Jordanian and Yemeni
planes flew into Baghdad airport last week, exploiting a loophole in the
Security Council resolutions.

The Arab initiatives followed Russian and French flights to Iraq since the
airport was reopened in mid-August. Paris and Moscow notified the UN
committee but did not await clearance unlike the previous Arab flights.

Tunisian officials said the sanctions committee had been "notified" and that
a second flight was planned for October 15.
 

http://www.dawn.com/2000/10/05/int4.htm

*  TUNISIA, TURKEY JOIN SOLIDARITY FLIGHTS TO IRAQ
05 October 2000

BAGHDAD, Oct 4: Tunisia sent a plane to Iraq on Wednesday, as the United
Arab Emirates was set to become the first Arab monarchy to join the flow of
solidarity flights to the sanctions-hit state, Iraqi officials said.

Aboard the Tunisair plane were a team of 20 surgeons and ophthalmologists as
well as a cargo of medicines and medical equipment and Tunisia's national
football team, which is to play a friendly match in Baghdad on October 6.

The vice president of Iraq's Olympic committee, Assil Tabra, was in the
welcoming party for the Airbus.

Turkey too gave a green light on Wednesday for a humanitarian flight to
Iraq.

The airline Arkas was given permission to fly medical equipment to the Iraqi
capital, the foreign ministry said, without giving a date for the flight.

In Ankara, the foreign ministry said it was also likely to grant a
businessman from the southeastern town of Mersin permission to charter a
flight to the Iraqi capital.

The president of the Chamber of Commerce in the southeastern town of
Gaziantep said his organization had requested permission to allow a flight
transporting businessmen, doctors, nurses, artists and journalists to
Baghdad in the near future.

"The objective of this civilian initiative is to open, for humanitarian
reasons, a breach in the air embargo against Iraq," Mehmet Aslan said.

He added that he hoped the flight would reinforce relations between Turkey
and its neighbour Iraq in the face of an "illogical" embargo.

The organizers were hoping to have a reply from the foreign ministry by the
end of the week and would charter a plane before October 20, after informing
the United Nations, Aslan said.

Turkey's standpoint differs from that of its ally, the United States, which
has expressed displeasure over the growing number of countries challenging
the UN embargo.

....

Ankara has said the UN embargo and sanctions have cost it 35 billion dollars
and has regularly called for them to be lifted.

Turkey's southeastern border region with Iraq has been hard hit by
repercussions from the UN bans.

Jordanian, Yemeni and Moroccan planes have also landed at Saddam
International Airport since Sept 27 in a wave of flights to test a UN air
embargo, part of sanctions imposed on Iraq for invading Kuwait in 1990.

The Arab initiatives follow Russian and French flights to Iraq since the
airport was reopened in mid-August. Moscow and Paris notified the UN
sanctions committee but did not await clearance unlike the Arab flights.

The United Arab Emirates, a longtime supporter of lifting sanctions and
which renewed diplomatic ties with Baghdad in July, is to send another plane
on Thursday, Iraqi officials said.-AFP


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi
bin/WebObjects/SeattleTimes.woa/wa/gotoArticle?zsection_id=268448413&text_on
ly=0&slug=turk05&document_id=134237223

*  IN SLAP AT U.S., TURKEY ALLOWS AID INTO IRAQ
Seattle Times news services, October 05, 2000

ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey said yesterday it would allow medical-aid flights to
Iraq and may appoint an ambassador to Baghdad in moves sure to upset its
NATO ally, the United States.

The announcements came amid tension between Ankara and Washington after a
congressional committee approved a resolution urging President Clinton to
say the killing of Armenians by Turks 85 years ago was genocide.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry denied its plan to appoint an ambassador to
southern neighbor Iraq was an act of retaliation.

Turkey's top general canceled a trip to the United States to protest the
Armenia resolution. The private channel NTV said yesterday that chief of
staff Gen. Huseyin Kivrikoglu canceled talks later this month in Washington
with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Hugh Shelton.

The International Relations Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives
approved the genocide resolution Tuesday. It now goes to the full House.

The nonbinding resolution would place the U.S. government on record as
saying the Ottoman Empire killed or displaced 1.5 million Armenians between
1915 and 1923, when the Turkish republic was established.

Turkey insists the death toll is much lower and that people were killed as
the empire tried to quell civil unrest.

Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer phoned President Clinton earlier this
week to express his concern about the resolution.

GOP leaders have promised to bring the resolution to the House floor to help
Rep. James E. Rogan, R-Calif., who is facing a tough re-election campaign in
a district with a large Armenian American population.

The measure has drawn support from some Democrats, including Rogan's foe,
California state Sen. Adam Schiff.

Turkey has warned that it will take measures against Armenia and the United
States if the resolution is passed.

Local media have reported a series of other possible steps, including
withdrawing from planned talks with U.S. company Bell Textron to buy attack
helicopters in a lucrative tender and shutting off an air corridor to
eastern neighbor Armenia.

The United States also uses Incirlik air base in southern Turkey to patrol
the no-fly zone over northern Iraq.

The Foreign Ministry also said it would allow flights of medical aid to
Iraq, a gesture that would allow Turkish planes to join an increasing number
of humanitarian flights to Baghdad that challenge decade-old sanctions.


http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/meast/10/04/un.iraq.oil.ap/index.html

*  ANNAN COMPLAINS ABOUT HIGH AMOUNT OF 'HOLDS' IN IRAQ AID PROGRAM
October 4, 2000

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan complained Wednesday
about a significant increase in the amount of goods destined for Iraq
through the U.N. aid program that have been blocked from arriving -- largely
because of the United States.

As of Tuesday, an estimated $2.14 billion worth of goods, mostly
communications and transport equipment, was on "hold" by the U.N. Sanctions
Committee, which vets contracts for goods that can be purchased by Iraq
through the U.N. oil-for-food program.

Up until a few months ago, the value of contracts in limbo had remained
steady at about dlrs 1.6 billion. But with a significant influx of
complicated contracts recently, the amount has swelled to over $2 billion.

The United States has delayed approval for most of those contracts,
concerned that the equipment could be used for military purposes. U.S.
officials routinely review the contracts, delaying their approval at times
indefinitely until they are satisfied that the goods can't be used for "dual
use."

Another $1 billion worth of contracts has been held up by the United Nations
itself because of paperwork problems from suppliers. U.N. officials only
circulate those contracts to the committee after the applications are in
order.

In a letter to the Security Council, Annan urged U.N. missions who forward
the supplier contracts onto the committee to improve their work "to ensure
the effective implementation of the humanitarian program in Iraq."

But he also called for countries to more quickly approve the contracts that
have been submitted, saying he was "seriously concerned" that the amount of
"holds" had increased despite the efforts by the sanctions committee to
speed up the approval process and pledges by the United States to streamline
its own review system.

"This situation renders the distribution of humanitarian goods and the
amelioration of the overall situation more difficult and places an
additional strain on the already heavily burdened population by delaying the
arrival and use of many key supplies and equipment essential to all
sectors," Annan wrote.

In the past, U.S. officials have justified their delays by arguing that the
total value of applications on "hold" represented a small fraction of all
contracts approved. But since June 30, the value of contracts in limbo has
jumped from 10.6 percent of the total to 14.5 percent this week, according
to figures from the U.N. oil-for-food program.

The program allows Iraq to sell unlimited amounts of oil to buy humanitarian
goods and equipment to offset the effects of 10-year-old sanctions imposed
after Baghdad's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

U.N. and U.S. officials have noted that the program has expanded enormously
in recent months, following the Security Council's decision to remove the
limit on the amount of oil Iraq can sell and the record high prices that oil
is fetching.

But Annan has consistently called for the sanctions committee to speed up
approval of contracts, particularly for oil industry spare parts that are
needed to keep Iraq's dilapidated oil infrastructure functioning.

U.N. spokesman John Mills noted that in the last week, $30 million worth of
contracts were taken off hold but that another $183 million worth was tied
up, including one contract for $110 million.


http://search.ft.com/search/multi/globalarchive.jsp?docId=001006003563&query
=Iraq&resultsShown=20&resultsToRequest=100

*  IRAQI TV ANNOUNCES ARRIVAL OF ALGERIAN PLANE AT BAGHDAD AIRPORT
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom, Oct 6, 2000, 44 words

Iraqi TV at 1845 gmt on 5th October carried the following "urgent" caption
in Arabic: "An Algerian airlines plane landed at Saddam International
Airport at 2130 [1730 gmt] carrying 160 Algerian national figures, deputies,
journalists, physicians and intellectuals. This is the first Algerian flight
to Baghdad since the treacherous 30-state aggression on Iraq."
Source: Iraqi TV, Baghdad, 1845 gmt 5 Oct 00 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC.


http://www.gulf-news.com/06102000/BUSINESS/business2.htm

*  UAE 'WILL WIN MAJOR IRAQI RECONSTRUCTION DEALS'
By Rasha Owais

Baghdad -  Iraq plans to award the UAE a large number of reconstruction
projects once UN sanctions are lifted, a senior Iraqi official said.
Yesterday Iraqi Minister of Trade Mohammed Mehdi Saleh received a 30-member
UAE delegation led by Minister of Health Hamad Abdul Rahman Al Madfa that
came to Baghdad on a solidarity flight.

Dr. Obaid Saqr Busit, Director-General of Dubai Customs, announced that a
new ferry, the Hotline, which can carry 400 passengers, will start regular
service to Iraq within a month. It has been approved by the UN Sanctions
Committee.

"Hotline - a private sector initiative - will conduct one regular sailing
per week and will reduce sailing hours from 37 to 14. The Jebel Ali vessel
will stop at Bahrain," Busit said. "Dubai has been confirmed as Iraq's
intermediate market since 1995. It is expected to be so for a long time,"
Mehdi said.

"This is not only for exporting goods to Baghdad, but also because global
firms exporting to Umm Qasr will use Jebel Ali Free Zone as their base.
"Dubai will get a big chunk of the projects once the sanctions are lifted.
Trade volume then is expected to grow extensively to the extent that Dubai
and Abu Dhabi will be unable to accommodate the cargo movement," Mehdi said.

He estimated UAE-Iraq trade at $400 million a year. "Iraq is implementing
reconstruction projects by its own government and private sectors." Once the
sanctions are lifted, Iraqi revenues will jump to $30 billion calculated on
the basis of current oil prices.

"Major projects will then emerge. Currently, there are 50 vessels docked in
Iraqi ports awaiting unloading."

Around 10,000 to 26,000 tonnes of sugar were imported from Dubai to Iraq on
14 vessels since the beginning of July, said Salem Taha Najem, Dubai-based
Iraqi Commercial Office assistant director.


http://search.ft.com/search/multi/globalarchive.jsp?docId=001006005623&query
=Iraq&resultsShown=20&resultsToRequest=100

*  AUTHORITIES REPORTEDLY EXECUTE EIGHT PEOPLE FOR DEFACING SADDAM MURALS
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom, Oct 6, 2000, 141 words

Text of report by London-based newspaper 'Al-Sharq al-Awsat' on 6th October

Amman: Iraqi sources have said that the authorities have executed eight
prisoners on charges of forming an opposition organization and defacing
several murals depicting Iraqi President Saddam Husayn.

The sources said that Muhammad Ali Naji, an engineer from Baghdad Province,
was the first suspect to be charged with leading the organization and added
that his body and those of three of his companions were handed last Monday
[2nd October] to their families.

According to the sources, the victims were arrested on 1st August on charges
of setting up an organization called "Iraq's Companies" [Saraya al-Iraq] and
were subjected to an investigation until a special court sentenced them to
death.

The sources said that those executed included Safa Hasan al-Juburi, a
secondary school teacher in Baghdad's Al-Dawrah District and Fadil Abd, a
computer programmer who was working for a private company.

Source: 'Al-Sharq al-Awsat', London, in Arabic 6 Oct 00 /BBC Monitoring/ ©
BBC.


http://www.dawn.com/2000/10/07/int6.htm

*  ARAB STATES TO HOLD SUMMIT ON 21ST
07 October 2000   Saturday   08 Rajab 1421

CAIRO, Oct 6: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced on Friday that Arab
leaders would meet on Oct 21 and 22 in Cairo to discuss the situation in the
Palestinian territories, in their first summit since 1996.

Arab League Secretary Gen Esmat Abdel Meguid confirmed that, adding that
"all Arab states will participate in this summit". In Baghdad, deputy prime
minister Tareq Aziz confirmed that Iraq will attend.

Since the Gulf war, only one Arab summit has been held, when Iraq was not
invited.

Since then, several Arab capitals have tried in vain to hold a summit,
notably during the US British air raids on Iraq in Dec 1998.

"Iraq will take part in every Arab meeting because it is a member of the
Arab League. If there is an Arab summit Iraq will take part," the official
INA news agency quoted Aziz as saying. AFP


http://www.timesofindia.com/071000/07mide8.htm

*  LEBANON TO GIVE IRAQ MEDICAL AID

BEIRUT: A Lebanese plane carrying medical supplies will fly to Baghdad next
week, as Lebanon joins the growing number of countries defying the
international air embargo against Iraq, an organiser of the flight said on
Friday.

"Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Hoss has given the go-ahead for a Lebanese
plane to travel from Beirut to Baghdad carrying medicine and medical
equipment," said Hani Soleiman, a member of the Support Committee for the
Iraqi People.

The committee, which is made up of 70 civil organisations, will meet on
Monday with the doctors' and pharmacists' unions to decide who will be on
the flight and what supplies they will bring with them.

"The plane will probably fly at the end of next week. We're in contact with
Lebanon's Middle East Airlines to fix a departure date," Soleiman said.

"The Iraq flight's objective is to break the embargo and to come to the aid
of the suffering Iraqi people," he added.

Six Arab countries -- Algeria, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, the United Arab
Emirates and Yemen -- have sent planes into Iraq over the past week and a
half, following flights from Russia and France.

Syria and Turkey are also expected to follow suit.

Iraq has been under an air embargo since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Paris
and Moscow say the ban does not cover private non-commercial flights, while
the United States and Britain insist that all flights must be approved by
the UN sanctions committee. (AFP)



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