The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
Views expressed in this archived message are those of the author, not of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
[Main archive index/search] [List information] [Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq Homepage]
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) -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk Full details of CASI's various lists can be found on the CASI website: http://www.casi.org.uk