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from Japan Today Tues, Mar 4, 2003 http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&id=251438 Japan to decide soon on evacuating embassy in Iraq TOKYO - The government will decide on the evacuation of staff at the Japanese Embassy in Iraq in a few days since the weapons crisis there may further escalate, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Monday. The timing of the evacuation will be finalized after assessing debate on a new draft resolution submitted to the U.N. Security Council by the United States, Britain and Spain and reviewing the progress in the evacuation of Japanese nationals in Iraq, the official said. The Japanese government apparently believes the use of force against Iraq is unavoidable, thus leading it to consider the withdrawal of embassy staff. The draft resolution, which could pave the way for the use of force to disarm Iraq, says Iraq is in breach of Security Council Resolution 1441, which requires the country to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction. The Security Council will debate whether or not to adopt the resolution after U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix presents his latest report to the council on Friday. At least two Japanese diplomats from the Japanese Embassy in Jordan are stationed at the embassy in Baghdad by rotation. On Feb 14, the Japanese government advised Japanese nationals in Iraq to leave the country immediately. However, a total of 56 Japanese nationals, including embassy staff, journalists and members of nongovernmetal organizations are in Iraq as of Monday, according to the ministry. About 10 Japanese belonging to citizens' groups have said they will remain in Iraq to act as "human shields" even if the U.S.-led military strike starts. The ministry is now trying to persuade them to leave. Meanwhile, the government also plans to issue an advisory by the end of this week to Japanese nationals in Kuwait and the Khafji area of Saudi Arabia to leave those two countries immediately, ministry officials said. A similar advisory for those in Israel is likely to be issued next week, the officials said. (Kyodo News) __________________________ http://www.japantoday.com/ ===== LMNOP http://lmno4p.org "No War for Oil!" __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^================================================================
