IRAQ SANCTIONS MONITOR Number 180
Tuesday, January 2, 2001
Saddam shrugs off Arab rebuke
IRAQ condemned yesterday as "silly and boring" an appeal by other
Gulf Arab states that Baghdad comply with United Nations resolutions
demanding the elimination of its weapons of mass destruction.
The call by the six-member Gulf Co-operation Council coincided with
the biggest military parade in Baghdad since the 1991 Gulf War. It
was directed by President Saddam Hussein, who greeted the marching
units on Sunday by firing shots from a rifle. An Iraqi opposition
group later claimed that hours after the parade Saddam had suffered
a "severe stroke" and was taken to hospital. Rumours that
Saddam, 63, is in poor health have circulated before, but have
proved impossible to confirm.
The four-hour demonstration of military muscle, called the al-Aqsa
Parade, was intended as a show of support for the Palestinians in
their uprising against Israeli occupation and capped a month-long
training campaign called by Saddam for "volunteers willing to launch
jihad to liberate Palestine". It also served as a potent reminder of
the durability of the Iraqi leader, ahead of the tenth anniversary of
the Gulf War later this month.
Saddam struck an identical pose in November at a parade in Baghdad by
nearly two million Iraqis volunteering to fight with the
Palestinians. The communique, issued by the Gulf Co-operation
Council, was softer in tone than other statements in the past decade,
representing a compromise between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, which had
wanted to maintain the United Nations sanctions until Iraq obeyed all
resolutions, and the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, which called for
their end.
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Republicans to block war crimes treaty
REPUBLICANS in Congress are vowing to reverse President Clinton's
last-minute decision to sign a United Nations treaty establishing the
first permanent international court for war crimes.
Jesse Helms, the powerful chairman of the Senate foreign relations
committee, said that he planned to introduce legislation in the
congressional session starting next week to bar US co-operation with
the proposed international criminal court.
"The decision will not stand," Mr Helms said. "I will make reversing
this decision, and protecting American men and women in uniform from
the jurisdiction of this kangaroo court, one of my highest priorities
in the new Congress."
Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush's choice for Defence Secretary, is
already on record as opposing the new court. In a letter with 11 other
prominent former policymakers last month, he gave warning
that "American leadership in the world could be the first casualty"
of the proposed tribunal. The United States refused to join the 120
nations that signed the treaty in Rome in 1998 calling for the
creation of an international criminal court because of fears that
American soldiers could be unfairly targeted. With the court expected
to come into existence anyway once 60 nations have ratified the
treaty in about two years' time, Washington faced a year-end deadline
to sign or to lose its influence in future negotiations.
President Clinton suggested that the US decision to sign before the
deadline was a tactical move and said that President-elect Bush
should not present the treaty to the Senate for ratification until
changes were made. The US signature brings to 139 the number of
nations that have signed. Israel and Iran did so just before the
deadline. Those holding back include North Korea, Libya, China and
Iraq.
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Iraq resumes oil exports through Turkey
ANKARA, Jan 2 (AFP) - Iraq resumed the export of oil through the port
of Ceyhan in southern Turkey on Saturday following renewal by the
United Nations of the oil for food programme last month, a
spokeswoman for the Turkish state oil and gas company Botas told AFP
on Monday.
"An oil tanker arrived at the Ceyhan terminal on December 30 and the
load was handled," she said. "So the pumping of oil has been
resumed," she said. Iraq had resumed the exporting of oil on December
13 from its terminal of Mina Al-Bakr in the south after a 12-day
suspension owing to disagreement between the United Nations and
Baghdad which demanded that clients pay 40 cents per barrel into an
account not controlled by the UN.
The humanitarian programme of oil for food, an exception to an
embargo imposed against Iraq after it had invaded Kuwait in 1990, has
authorised Iraq since the end of December 1996 to sell oil to obtain
vital products such as food and medicines.
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Iraq Slams U.N. For Delaying Decision to Aid Palestine
BAGHDAD (Jan. 2) XINHUA - An official Iraqi daily on Tuesday slammed
the United Nations Security Council for failing to reach an agreement
on approval of Iraqi aid of 1 billion euro (some 860 million U.S.
dollars) to Palestine.
In an editorial, the official Al-Iraq stressed that if the U.N.
Security Council is not governed by "the U.S. and its hegemony," it
should take practical steps to ratify the decision made by the Iraqi
government.
The editorial demanded the U.N. Security Council to approve the
humanitarian decision quickly, as the Palestinians are subjected to
the "besiege" of Israel and Israel has obstructed the arrival of
humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territories.
On December 9 last year, Iraq decided to allocate 1 billion euro from
its oil export proceeds over a one-year period to support the the
Palestinians' intifada (uprising) against Israel.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammad Said Al-Sahaf informed the U.N.
Security Council of the Iraqi decision four days later and urged a
quick and favorable response from the world's leading body.
Under the Iraqi plan, Iraq will grant 300 million euro (about 258
million dollars) to the families of the Palestinians killed in the
conflicts with Israeli soldiers since September 28, and 700 million
euro (some 602 million dollars) to the Palestinian authority to buy
food and medicine for the Palestinian people.
The over-three-month-old clashes between the Palestinians and Israeli
soldiers have killed over 300 people, mostly Palestinians, and
injured thousands.
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Egyptian ministers discuss setting up free trade zone with Iraq, US
Text of report in English by Egyptian news agency MENA
Cairo, 31 December: The cabinet economic ministerial group under
Prime Minister Atif Ubayd discussed on Sunday [31 December] the
establishment of a free trade area (FTA) with Iraq and a
protocol on related procedural rules on trade liberalization
between the two countries.
In statements on Sunday, Minister of Planning and International
Cooperation Ahmed al-Darsh said the protocol will help activate
the common Arab market agreement. It will provide an opportunity for
other Arab countries to sign similar protocols. The minister also
said the meeting tackled starting a dialogue with the US on setting
up a free trade area with it, following suit of the US free trade
areas with other states, such as Mexico, Israel and Jordan.
The meeting also reviewed the partnership agreement with the
European Union (EU), al-Darsh said, adding that the economic
group will submit its report to President Husni Mubarak to set
the date for initialling the agreement.
The partnership agreement will be accompanied by a plan of
action on modernizing Egypt in the fields of industry,
agriculture, education, health and others, the minister added.
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Iraq and Turkey to resume railway, land transport links
Text of report by Iraqi radio on 2 January
Iraq and Turkey have agreed to resume the operation of trains to
transport passengers and goods between the two countries through
Syrian land.
In statements to the Iraqi News Agency, Sabri Qati,
under-secretary of the Ministry of Transport and Communications,
said the two countries had agreed to develop joint cooperation
in the field of rail and land transport as well as communications. He
said the Iraqi, Syrian and Turkish transport ministers recently held
a meeting in Turkey to discuss the expansion of ties amongst them.
Qati added that Iraq and Turkey agreed to activate the movement of
land transport, trucks, by making customs measures at border points
simpler in order to guarantee the smooth flow of goods into the
country under the Oil-for-Food programme.
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Egyptian plane leaves for Iraq with doctors, businessmen
Text of report in English by Egyptian news agency MENA
Cairo, 2 January: An Egyptian plane left here Tuesday [2
January] evening en route to Baghdad, carrying on board a
45-strong delegation.
The delegation groups a number of doctors, artists and businessmen.
This is the fifth plane to be sent by Egypt to Iraq within the
framework of supporting the Iraqi people, according to a reliable
EgyptAir official.
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Baghdad reports new Turkish incursion into northern Iraq
BAGHDAD, Jan 2 (AFP) - Baghdad Tuesday reported a new Turkish
incursion into northern Iraq and called on the Arab League to
intervene to ensure the "immediate withdrawal" of Turkish troops from
northern Iraq.
"The Arab League is called upon to assume its legal and moral
responsibility and seek an end to provocative and unjustified acts by
Turkey," Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohamed Said al-Sahhaf said in a
message to the league's Secretary General Esmat Abel Meguid, quoted
by the official Iraqi news agency INA.
The Turkish army regularly launches operations against rebels from
the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the north of Iraq, who have used
the area as a base since the end of the Gulf War in 1991.
The last incursion by the Turkish army was last June.
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Iran to release Iraqi POWs
TEHRAN, Iran, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Iran plans to release some 20 Iraqi
prisoners of war as a goodwill gesture to mark the new year, a
foreign ministry source said Tuesday. It is hoped the release, on
humanitarian grounds, would also prove Iran's good intentions towards
Iraq and its wish to close the file on prisoners captured during the
1980-1988 war with Baghdad.
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Iraq confident that sanctions will be lifted in 2001
BAGHDAD, Jan 1 (AFP) - The decade-old sanctions regime imposed on
Iraq by the United Nations after its invasion of Kuwait could be
lifted in 2001, an official Iraqi newspaper said Monday.
"The new year will see, God willing, the lifting of the embargo
forever," said Babel, headed by President Saddam Hussein's eldest son
Uday.
The paper based its optimism on the weakening of sanctions in 2000,
with the resumption of flights into Baghdad, the reopening of
embassies and the influx of foreign businessmen into Iraq.
"Iraq's logic, which argues that the embargo will never be lifted by
a UN Security Council decision, is now shared by other countries
convinced this embargo is about to disappear," Babel
said.
The government daily Al-Jumhuriya, for its part, said: "The new year
will be different than the previous one especially when it comes to
breaking the embargo."
"In seeing in 2001, we beg God to grant every Iraqi's wishes to see
the unjust sanctions disppear," said Youth Television, also headed by
Uday Hussein.
Baghdad and the United Nations are expected to reopen a dialogue
later this month, more than a year after a UN Security Council
resolution, introduced in December 1999, offered a suspension of
sanctions in return for Iraq's cooperation with a new arms control
regime.
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Iraq's Biggest Show Of Armed Might Since Gulf War
>From NEW YORK TIMES, January 1st, 2001
Credit: Reuters
President Saddam Hussein presided today over what appeared to be the
biggest military parade in Baghdad since the 1991 Persian Gulf war,
greeting army units with shots from a rifle he held in one hand.
The parade displayed sophisticated surface-to-surface and anti-
aircraft missiles, artillery and more than 1,000 modern, Russian-made
tanks as well as infantry units. The president wore a blue suit and a
hat and was accompanied by top aides in military fatigues on his
reviewing stand.
Formations of jet fighters and helicopter gunships hovered over
central Baghdad's Grand Festivities Square as forces representing all
Iraqi military units, including the navy, infantry and paramilitary
Saddam commandos, flowed past. Missiles in the four-hour parade were
the Al-Samoud, Al-Fath and Al-Raad, all with ranges under 95 miles
that do not violate restrictions imposed by the United Nations after
the gulf war.
The parade was officially called Al Aksa Call Parade and was intended
as a show of support for Palestinians in their uprising against
Israel. Last month, President Hussein attended a parade in Baghdad by
nearly two million Iraqis who are said to have volunteered to fight
with the Palestinians against the Israeli army. That parade capped a
monthlong training campaign called by President Hussein ''for
volunteers willing to launch jihad to liberate Palestine.'' He said
last month that more than 6.6 million Iraqis, including just over 2
million women, had volunteered.
The president said in October that Iraq was ready to ''put an end to
Zionism'' if Arab rulers did not defend the Palestinians against
Israel. Iraq has always taken a hard line toward Israel and during
the gulf war it fired Scud missiles at Israeli territory. Iraq also
opposes the peace accords signed so far by the Israelis and
Palestinians, and the treaties signed by Egypt and Jordan with Israel.
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Baghdad slams Gulf leaders summit
BAGHDAD, Jan 1 (AFP) - Iraq dismissed Monday calls by Gulf leaders
for Baghdad to show peaceful intentions to its neighbours, saying the
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was merely pandering to the US
administration.
"The position of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is that of the
Saudi leaders, which mirrors that of the United States," said Ath-
Thawra, mouthpiece of the ruling Baath party.
In their final summit declaration Sunday, Gulf Arab leaders invited
the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to "prove its peaceful
intentions towards its neighbours," especially Kuwait, which Baghdad
occupied from August 1990 to February 1991.
"GCC statements over the past years have never deviated from the
wishes of the US administration to the point where their content is
known in advance," the paper said.
Mocking the GCC's political weight, Ath-Thawra said it was
a "primitive assembly that recalls tribal alliances from the days
before Islam".
"As is the case in tribal alliances where the say of the most
powerful and richest tribe's sheikhs dominates, the Saudi government
imposes itself on all other GCC members and their wishes," it said.
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Millennium Cup: Yugoslavia meets Iraq in opener
>From THE HINDU, January 1st, 2001
KOCHI, DEC. 31. The Millennium Super Soccer Cup, which will be held
in Kochi, Calcutta and Goa, beginning January 10, will be watched
keenly by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
"The successful conduct of the event will bring in some major
tournaments to the country," said the All India Football Federation
president, Mr. Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, here on Saturday evening.
"The AFC is looking at India as an important venue," he added.
The 16-team Millennium Cup, one of Asia's biggest events, kicks off
in Calcutta on January 10 afternoon with the match between Chile and
Bahrain. Three matches will be played on the opening day. The two-
group, eight-team Kochi leg also begins on the same day with the
Group I match between the favourite, Yugoslavia, and Iraq.
To promote the sport among school children, nearly 3,000 tickets will
be given free every day, added the AIFF chief who is in Kochi along
with the AIFF secretary Alberto Colaco and AIFF executive president
P.P. Lakshmanan to release the fixtures of the premier tournament.
Ms. Henna Juneja, CEO, Studio 2100, the promoter of the event, Mr.
Shyam Sunder Ghosh of AIFF's media committee, the Kerala Football
Association president, Mr. K.M.I. Mather, and the secretary, Mr. G.
Sugunan, also spoke at the function.
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EDITORIAL PAGE UN sanctions on Iraq
>From The Irish Times January 2nd, 2001
Sir, - I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of the
Campaign to End Iraq Sanctions, to congratulate the members of the
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs, namely David Andrews,
John Gormley and Michael D. Higgins, on their recent visit to Iraq.
Their concern about the worsening humanitarian crisis in Iraq, which
has resulted from 10 years of sanctions by the UN Security Council,
is commendable and admirable. These sanctions serve no other purpose
than to collectively punish an entire society
In January 2001 Ireland will hold a non-permanent seat on the UN
Security Council. This presents an opportunity for the Irish
Government to show as much courage and integrity as David Andrews and
his companions in working to persuade both America and Britain, two
countries with which Ireland has a special relationship, to lift the
sanctions and stop the suffering of the ordinary Iraqi people. -
Yours etc.
S. Flood, Campaign to End Sanctions on Iraq, Winter Gardens, Dublin 2.
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