IRAQ SANCTIONS MONITOR Number 177 Wednesday, December 27, 2000 _______________________________________________________ Christmas...Eid....The New Year.... IT'S FRESH FROM ITS INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE....... VHS copies of the film 'Big Ben to Baghdad', the epic account of last year's journey in a 37-year-old Routemaster bus from London to the capital of sanctions-engulfed Iraq. The 65-minute-film costs £9.99 from the Mariam Appeal, 13a Borough High Street, London+++++++++++++++++LATEST Iraq Questions Credibility of UN December 27th, 2000 BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) _ Iraq is questioning the credibility of a U.N. force monitoring the border with Kuwait, saying it does not report flights by American and British warplanes as violations to U.N. resolutions. In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Iraq's foreign minister took the monitors to task over the U.S.-British warplanes, which patrol a no-fly zone in southern Iraq and frequently fire on Iraqi air defense sites that target them. The U.N. Observation and Monitoring force, known as UNIKOM, watches over a no-man's land at the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border, where its role is to monitor all land, sky and sea traffic and report any violations of either nation's territory immediately to the Security Council. ``Most of the warplanes cross the area observed by the UNIKOM posts to strike Iraq and return through the same points,'' Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said in the letter, reported by Iraqi television Tuesday night. ``By violating our territories, the warplanes commit sheer violations to U.N. resolutions, obliging the UNIKOM forces to monitor and report these violations immediately ... to the U.N. and the Security Council,'' al-Sahhaf said in his letter. The U.S.-British patrols, conducted since 1992 following the Gulf War, are not mandated by the United Nations and Iraq considers them violations of its sovereignty and international law. The United States and Britain say the patrols _ based out of Saudia Arabia and carriers in the Persian Gulf _ are necessary to protect Iraq's Shiite Muslim minority in the area from the Baghdad government. A similar no-fly zone in the north is enforced by planes based in Turkey. Iraq has been challenging the flights for two years _ locking on to the planes with its radar _ and routinely drawing fire. In its reports, including its most recent one Sept. 27, UNIKOM has highlighted air violations of the no-man's land, but has not identified the origin of the planes and has said it could not chart all violations because the aircraft were flying too high to be identified. Al-Sahhaf dismissed that reasoning in his letter, noting the allies ``themselves announce that their warplanes have carried out daily patrols in Iraq.'' ``Is flying in the no-man's land considered to be an accepted act?'' the letter asked. ``If flying at high altitudes is not considered to be a violation, then we Iraqis can do that, too.'' ``What would the UNIKOM observers then say if Iraqi planes flew over the same area?'' al-Sahhaf asked in the letter. ______________________________________________________ Muslims mark Eid with prayers, calls to liberate Jerusalem December 27th, 2000 CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ The violence in the Palestinian territories overshadowed Muslim celebrations of the end of the holy month of Ramadan on Wednesday, with religious leaders urging the faithful to liberate Jerusalem from the Jews. As Muslims worldwide celebrated Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of Islam's holiest month, clerics also urged worshippers to divert zakat, or alms, to the Palestinians. In Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the imam of Masjid Al Haram, Islam's holiest site, said ``the tragic events'' in the Palestinian territories are a ``source of sorrow to every Arab, Muslim and fair-minded person in the world.'' ``The Jewish invaders have violated the forbidden, desecrated the sacred and usurped our land in Palestine while the whole world has stood idle,'' Sheik Mohammed Bin Abdellah Al-Sabeel said in a sermon following the Eid prayers. His words were broadcast live across the region on state-owned Saudi satellite television. Muslims believe the Quran, their holy book, was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad over Ramadan 14 centuries ago. They mark the holy month with daylong fasts and celebrate its end with feasting. In Iraq, Baghdad's streets were quiet on the first day of Eid, when many Iraqis traditionally visit cemeteries to pray, drink tea and eat snacks _ keeping their dead beloved company on the holiday. War and sanctions have ravaged Iraq's economy. ``To hell with sanctions! People do not give money to beggars any more because they do not have it to start with,'' a beggar who refused to give his name said as he tried unsuccessfully to collect alms near a Baghdad graveyard. Muslims in many countries ended this Ramadan with few festivities. Palestinian families all over the West Bank and Gaza were mourning their dead. Nearly 350 people have been killed in the three months of fighting in Israel and the Palestinian territories, almost all of them Palestinian. In Cairo, imams who led millions of worshippers in mosques and city squares urged followers to give the traditional Eid alms to Palestinians who have lost relatives in the uprising. After prayers, some activists sold pictures of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem to raise funds for the Palestinians. Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, blasted Israel and promised to support the Palestinian uprising. ``It is a human, religious, wise and historical duty for all the Muslim nations to support the oppressed Palestinian nation as much as possible,'' Khamenei told tens of thousands of worshippers whom he led in the Eid prayers in a northern Tehran mosque. Worshippers responded with calls of ``Death to Israel! Death to America!'' Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who performed early-morning prayers in a Gaza mosque, told reporters that ``This holiday is decisive. ``With God's help, it will lead to a Palestinian boy or a Palestinian girl raising the flag of Palestine over the walls of Jerusalem.'' Elsewhere, other pressing secular concerns intruded on the sacred. In Afghanistan, the ruling Taliban militia's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, warned his countrymen that the United States and Russia have a plan to isolate Muslims worldwide beginning with Afghanistan. Omar issued a message calling for vigilance, particularly against the United States and Russia, who cosponsored a U.N. resolution imposing sweeping new sanctions on the Taliban. He accused America of using the presence of suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan as a ploy to thwart the rule of the Taliban, who espouse a harsh brand of Islamic law in the 95 percent of the country they control. _____________________________________________________ Bounty offered for RAF pilots in Iraq: report LONDON, Dec 27 (AFP) - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has promised a reward equivalent to 10,000 pounds (16,000 euros) to any Iraqi who shoots down one of the British planes enforcing the no-fly zones imposed after the Gulf War, the tabloid Sun reported Wednesday. The bounty represents 270 times the average annual salary in Iraq, the paper said. The British Jaguars and Tornados overflying the zones along with US fighters have been targeted by Iraqi missiles and anti-aircraft fire around 1, 000 times in two years while Iraqi aircraft have violated the airspace 250 times, the Sun said. Four Jaguars are on permanent duty watching the north Iraq exclusion zone while 14 Tornados keep an eye on the southern zone, it said. The Sun published an interview with one of the British pilots about what the daily called the Iraqi "dead or alive" campaign against the flyers. The exclusion zones in north and south Iraq were imposed by Washington and London after the 1991 Gulf War without the backing of UN resolutions. They are not recognized by Baghdad and incidents take place almost daily between the allied aircraft and Iraqi ground forces. _______________________________________________________ Iraq offers aid to Palestine. MOSCOW, December 27 (Itar-Tass) - Iraq offers financial aid to the Palestinian people given an aggravating crisis in Palestine. Spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Yakovenko said on Wednesday the Russian envoy to the United Nations received a letter from the permanent observer of the League of Arab States supporting Baghdad's initiative. Yakovenko said such aid can be given by remitting funds from the Iraqi account at the New York branch of Bank National de Paris accumulating UN-controlled profits from Iraqi oil sales. Yakovenko said the UN committee on sanctions against Iraq is to make recommendations on the matter. The diplomat said that the the problem was discussed at the consultative meeting of the UN Security Council on December 22. According to him, a few countries favoured an approval of aid in view of the difficult situation in Palestine. ______________________________________________________ China calls for early lifting of UN sanctions on Iraq December 26th, 2000 BEIJING (AP) _ China on Tuesday said the humanitarian situation in Iraq is worsening and called for the early lifting of U.N. sanctions. The appeal, issued by China's Foreign Ministry, follows a highly symbolic Chinese mission to Baghdad that included an unexpected meeting with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Chinese Cabinet minister Ismail Amat delivered humanitarian aid to Baghdad, carried on the first direct flight from Beijing in 10 years. The mission, which occurred over the weekend, underscored China's desire to end the sanctions _ something it has been pushing for in the U.N. Security Council with fellow permanent members Russia and France against Britain and the United States. Amat gave Saddam a letter of support from Chinese President Jiang Zemin and toured an underground bunker bombed during the Gulf War. He visited a children's hospital to gauge ``the Iraqi people's sufferings under long-term sanctions and the great losses war caused Iraq,'' the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. ``We tried to convey the profound sympathy of the Chinese government and people to the Iraqi people who have been suffering from sanctions,'' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said at a media briefing. ``The humanitarian situation in Iraq continues to be very grave and it can also be said that it is deteriorating.'' Zhang provided no specific examples from Amat's trip to illustrate what China considers the worsening conditions in Iraq. ``China would like to see the early lifting of sanctions against Iraq,'' she said. The Chinese support was welcome in Baghdad. Iraqi state television said Saddam, while meeting Amat, accused Britain and the United States of violating U.N. resolutions. In declaring sympathy for Iraq, Zhang however also signaled that China was not attempting to circumvent the United Nations in ending the sanctions imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. She reiterated China's position that U.N. resolutions on Iraq need to be fully respected. That, she said, means ``fairly and objectively'' assessing Iraq's progress in meeting U.N. demands so that the sanctions can be gradually eased. In the past China has also called on Baghdad to work with the U.N. inspectors who need to verify that Iraq has dismantled biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programs. Previously the target of sanctions, China generally opposes their use. It abstained in the U.N. Security Council vote that allowed a U.S.-led force to wage war against Iraq for the invasion of Kuwait. In recent years, China has quietly stepped up contacts, hoping to land contracts for business and oil shipments once sanctions fall and improve its influence in the Middle East. Two-way trade grew 60 percent last year to dlrs 264 million, by Chinese government statistics. Zhang, the spokeswoman, said China has also provided an unspecified amount of aid to Iraq but said all the assistance has been approved by the U.N. sanctions committee. With China working hard to raise its profile in the Middle East, Zhang also announced that Vice President Hu Jintao would travel to Iran, Syria and Jordan next month. He will also visit Cyprus and Uganda. _______________________________________________________ Message of Eid, THE INDEPENDENT December 26, 2000 THE INDEPENDENT Eid-ul-Fitr, the greatest Muslim festival, is being celebrated across the world, tomorrow or on a day approximate to this day, depending on the sighting of the moon and geographical location of a particular country. Muslims, especially children, scan the horizon to catch the soft gleam of the crescent that brings the annual tidings of joy and happiness and marks the end of Ramzan, the month of fasting and abstinence. That does not mean that Eid-ul-Fitr permits unrestrained hedonism. The Eid celebration has a solemn spiritual message, underlying all the festivities and family and social rites and customs, and Muslims are expected to imbibe that message afresh on this occasion. Among all religious celebrations Eid is unique in that it has two dominant themes, those of unity and equality, which are sanctified by the principles and tenets of Islam. If Eid is celebrated in the right spirit Muslims will become more united and the existing wealth gap between groups of Muslims will be reduced. The Muslim Ummah is at present faced with a host of problems of national and international dimension. The holy shrine of Al-Quds is still under occupation, the independent state of Palestine is still in the womb of the future, and despite some tangible progress made by some Muslim countries in the social sector, Muslims on the whole are nowhere near being a power to reckon with in terms of scientific and technological capability or economic prosperity or political stability or military invincibility. The fact is that Muslim countries are at the receiving countries are at the receiving end as far as the principal engines of power and progress are concerned. Although Muslims do not lack numerical strength, they lack unity which can make that strength critical for contriving the collective good of the Ummah. Eid festivities very largely relate to the world of children and it is children who will give liveliness and color to the occasion. But in Iraq on the very Eid day two hundred children will die because medication is not available to them due to the UN sanctions. What festivity will attend those families in the West Bank whose children were killed or maimed because they threw stones at the Israeli army? Let this Eid-ul-Fitr be a reminder to Muslims round the world that they are to unite, raise their strength and remove differences of wealth between them both locally and globally. _______________________________________________________ JORDAN: 42,000 CARS IMPORTED FROM IRAQ According to Al-Hayat newspaper (December 23,2000), the number of cars imported from Iraq into Jordan amounted to 42,000 in the first 10 months of 2000, up from 11,455 cars in the corresponding period of the previous year. These figures translate into a sharp jump of 266%. This growth resulted mainly from the Jordanian decision to lessen the customs tax imposed on car imports. In addition, the Jordanian authorities permitted the import of cars over 5-years old into the kingdom, which boosted Jordan's car imports. ______________________________________________________ JORDANIAN-IRAQI EXCHANGES UP According to Al-Hayat newspaper (December 23,2000), official statistics showed that the value of the commercial exchanges between Iraq and Jordan expanded to JD 482 million in the first 10 months of 2000, up from JD 288 million in the corresponding period of the previous year. This implies a substantial jump of JD 194 million ($274.5 million). ______________________________________________________ Iraq accuses UN of not reporting US-British violations over border zone BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) _ Iraq is questioning the credibility of a U.N. force monitoring the border with Kuwait, saying it does not report flights by American and British warplanes through the border zone as violations to U.N. resolutions, Iraqi television reported Tuesday night. The U.N. Observation and Monitoring force, known as UNIKOM, watches over a no-man's land at the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border, where its role is to monitor all land, sky and sea traffic and report any violations of either nation's territory immediately to the U.N. Security Council. ``Most of the warplanes cross the area observed by the UNIKOM posts to strike Iraq and return through the same points,'' Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that was aired on Iraqi television. ``By violating our territories, the warplanes commit sheer violations to U.N. resolutions, obliging the UNIKOM forces to monitor and report these violations immediately ... to the U.N. and the Security Council,'' al-Sahhaf said in his letter. American and British warplanes began patrolling the skies over southern Iraq in 1992, a year after leading the Gulf War coalition that ousted Iraqi forces from Kuwait. They maintain the patrols, which take off from Saudi Arabia and carriers in the Gulf, are necessary to protect Iraq's Shiite Muslim minority in the area from the Baghdad government. The patrols are not mandated by the United Nations and Iraq considers them violations of its sovereignty and international law. It has been challenging the flights for two years _ locking on to the planes with its radar _ and routinely drawing fire. A similar zone covers northern Iraq. Al-Sahhaf's letter, according to the report, questioned UNIKOM's credibility ``in reporting incidents and the potential dangers of these incidents, which threaten Iraq's safety and security.'' The U.N. force, it said, gives ``excuses'' for not reporting such incidents: ``that they cannot identify the nationality of warplanes violating the area or that the warplanes are flying too high to be spotted by its observers.'' The report said al-Sahhaf dismissed that reasoning, noting ``the American and British aggressors themselves announce that their warplanes have carried out daily patrols in Iraq.'' ``Is flying in the no-man's land considered to be an accepted act?'' the letter asked. ``If flying at high altitudes is not considered to be a violation, then we Iraqis can do that, too.'' ``What would the UNIKOM observers then say if Iraqi planes flew over the same area?'' the letter asked of the secretary-general. _______________________________________________________ Saddam Couldn't Get Playstations If He Tried - Sony WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 2000 DEC 26 (NB) -- By Brian Krebs, Newsbytes. Widespread media reports that Iraq has been importing the scarce and highly sought-after Playstation 2 video consoles for their military potential are unsubstantiated and groundless, a Sony spokesperson said today. In the days leading up to December 25, several media outlets, including NBC, cited an unidentified US Customs officer as saying the popular PlayStation 2 units were being diverted from toy shops around Detroit to factions affiliated with the Iraqi military. The stories note that the coveted video game units are being sought by the Iraqi government due to their hefty processing power, which when hooked together en masse could conceivably offer computing speeds similar to that of low-grade supercomputers, devices seen as necessary for the development and testing of weapons of mass destruction. But Sony spokesperson Molly Smith said if Saddam Hussein wanted to get hold of a stash of Playstations, he'd have to get in line behind millions of other consumers. "Right now, with our current inventory situation, it's likely that anyone - Saddam Hussein or otherwise - claiming to have a substantial number of Playstation 2 units is probably pulling your leg at this point," Smith said. "This completely unsubstantiated story has been lingering for weeks and it's time to put it to rest." The US government controls exports of processors based on their processing speed, measured in MTOPs (millions of theoretical operations per second.) Currently, exports of processors which measure 28,000 MTOPs or below have been decontrolled for export to nearly all countries of the world with the exception of nations labeled terrorist sponsors, including Iraq, Iran and Libya. For those nations, the processor speed limit is a mere 6 MTOPs. Robert Majak, assistant secretary for export administration at the Commerce Departments Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) said while the Playstation 2 devices almost assuredly clock more than 6 MTOPs, there are more efficient and more commercially-available devices - desktop PCs that measure speeds of up to 6,500 MTOPs, for example - than this holiday's scarcest gift. "I would assume that if Iran were determined to obtain such devices illegally, it would presumably go after something much more powerful than a chip in a toy of some sort," Majak said. ______________________________________________________ tel: +44 (0)20 7403 5200 fax: +44 (0)20 7403 3823 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: www.mariamappeal.com
