>authorised to export crude under UN supervision to finance imports of food, >medicine and essential goods. > >Resolution 1284, which was adopted by the Security Council in December 1999, >offered to suspend the 10-year-old sanctions regime if Iraq cooperates fully >with a new body of UN arms inspectors. > >Baghdad has announced that it has no intention of cooperating with the UN >Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), set up >pursuant to the resolution. > >Iraq to fight for high oil prices at OPEC summit > >BAGHDAD, Sept 25 (AFP) - Iraq, strengthened by crude production levels >unseen since the Gulf War at a time of global supply shortages, is taking >its fight for high prices and against US influence to the OPEC summit. > >However, that fight will not be personally led by President Saddam Hussein, >who has not left Iraq for security reasons since the Gulf crisis of >1990-1991. He will not attend the summit, which opens in Caracas on >Wednesday. > > >Instead, Saddam is sending a powerful delegation, led by Oil Minister Amer >Rashid and Foreign Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf, to voice Baghdad's >policy of opposing a further hike in OPEC production quotas. > >"Iraq wants OPEC to unite member countries to defend their resources and to >resist the temptation to put the interests of the big industrialised nations >before those of the oil market," an Iraqi oil official told AFP. > >Iraq won major support for its policies this summer when Venezuelan >President Hugo Chavez became the first head of state to meet Saddam in >Baghdad since 1991, in the face of strong criticism from the US. > >At the end of that 24-hour visit, part of a tour of OPEC countries to >prepare for the summit, Saddam called for OPEC members to shake off US >pressure in order to ensure the summit's success. > >"If the summit is held and includes people representing foreign interests in >OPEC's bosom, it will be difficult to reach an accord on constructive >ideas," Saddam said at the time. > >Last week, Saddam accused western states of looking to tighten their grip on >oil-producing countries to ensure that oil prices drop from current 10-year >highs. > >"The great powers will look to tighten their grip on oil-producing >countries," he said. "These countries are using oil against us, but no-one >will be able to harm the masters of oil." > >Iraq, which has the second-largest oil reserves in the world after Saudi >Arabia, has warned of a catastrophic plunge in prices if consumer nations >replenish oil stocks. > >While Baghdad opposes OPEC production hikes aimed at lowering prices, it is >desperately trying to boost its own production and has even set a target of >double its August figure of three million barrels per day. > >But that would require investment of 30 billion dollars to renovate the >obsolete and decaying infrastructure. And that can not happen until the >decade-old sanctions are lifted by the United Nations. > >"The Caracas summit offers the opportunity to ensure OPEC's unity, >decision-making autonomy and its role on the international market," Rashid >said last week. > >He called for "solidarity with the other developing counties and the >strengthening of relations with other oil producers". > >Rashid said Iraq wanted out of the Caracas talks "a long-term strategy >taking into account the challenges OPEC faces, particularly on the high >taxation raised in the West on oil products." > >Iraq is obliged to sell its crude in exchange for basic goods and medicines >under the UN oil-for-food programme as part of the punishment for invading >Kuwait in 1990. > >Iraq bans smoking in public places > >BAGHDAD, Sept 25 (AFP) - The Iraqi cabinet is to take a further series of >measures to ban smoking in public and put an end to tobacco advertising, the >Takrit newspaper reported Monday. > >The measures will also force tobacco factories to print health warnings on >cigarette packets, Takrit said. > >A law drawn up in 1999 imposed fines on smokers caught puffing in public >places, schools and hospitals. Almost a third of Iraq's population over 15 >years of age, or four million people, smokes. > >Cigarette sales in Iraq top one billion packets a year, of which 100 million >are smuggled into the country through the northern Kurdish regions, over >which Baghdad has no control, and the land borders with Iran and Turkey. > > >Iraq says it hit US or British aircraft >By Agence France-Presse Baghdad--Sept. 25--Iraq claimed Monday to have hit a >U.S. or British airplane that was conducting an air raid in the north of the >country. >Surface-to-air "missiles hit one of the enemy planes Monday as they were >carrying out a raid on the north of Iraq," a Baghdad military spokesman >said, as cited by the official agency INA. > >* * * Over the past few months Iraq has frequently claimed to have hit U.S. >or British planes, but has never been able to prove it. >The U.S. and British force patrols the northern and southern sectors of Iraq >to enforce no-fly zones imposed after the 1991 Gulf War. >Iraq does not recognize the zones and has challenged the planes on a nearly >daily basis since December 1998, when U.S. and British forces bombed the >country in response to Baghdad's resistance to outside weapons inspectors. >Iraq says the raids have killed 316 civilians and injured more than 900 >since then. End > > >India considers organizes flight to Iraq > >BAGHDAD, Sept 25 (AFP) - India, following the lead of Russia and France, is >considering a sanctions-defying flight into Iraq, an Indian official said >here Monday. > > "India is studying the possibility of sending to Iraq a plan carrying >Indian personalities to support efforts to lift the embargo on this >country," said Ajit Kumar Panja, India's minister of state for external >affairs, as quoted by Iraq's official news agency INA. > >Panja, on a three-day visit to Baghdad, said he signed a friendship >agreement with Iraq foreseeing regular bilateral meetings to improve >cooperation between the two countries. > >The minister met Sunday with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, to whom he >delivered a message from Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. > >Panja used the occasion to denounce the embargo "imposed on Iraq and the >American-British raids against the Iraqi people," according to INA. > >French and Russian planes arrived in Baghdad over the weekend, defying the >strict US interpretation of the international air embargo on Iraq. > > >India has more than 150 contracts with Iraq valuing more than 280 million >dollars as part of the UN-sponsored "oil-for-food" program. > > >Saddam warns against pushing Iraq to `confrontation` > >Iraqi leader Saddam Husayn launched a verbal attack on Kuwait and Saudi >Arabia on Monday for supporting the "infidel >foreigners" and the sanctions regime against his country, Iraqi TV reported. > >"Why are the Saudi and Kuwaiti rulers bombing Iraq? Saudi and Kuwaiti >citizens should answer this question," he said in >comments at the cabinet meeting, quoted by the TV. "Does this mean that they >are belittling the Iraqis and forcing them to the path of confrontation," he >said. "Do not let Iraq reach that point," he went on. "They should think >ahead." >Source: Iraqi TV, Baghdad, in Arabic 25 Sep 00 > >Iraq blasts US decision to tap fuel reserves > >BAGHDAD: Iraqi oil officials said yesterday that a US decision to tap into >its petroleum reserves will do more harm than good to >"greedy markets" with insatiable appetites for crude oil. Oil Ministry >officials speaking on condition of anonymity said the >action will further destabilise an already volatile oil market instead of >calming market fears of an inadequate supply. >US President Bill Clinton directed the release of 30 million barrels of oil >from the US government's emergency stockpile only the second time that oil >from the reserve has been used in response to an energy emergency. The >release has also been criticised by several members of the Organization of >Petroleum Exporting Countries, including Saudi Arabia. > >Opec maintains that high oil prices stem from sluggish refining activity, >high taxes and speculation, not lack of supplies of crude. The Iraqi >officials said they have no intention of countering the US decision by >cutting Iraqi supplies. > >Cohen warns Iraq not to exploit US elections to attack >WASHINGTON, Sept 25 (AFP) - US Defense Secretary William Cohen warned Iraq >again Monday that it would be a "serious mistake" to take use the US >elections as cover to launch attacks against its neighbors. >"No one can predict what Saddam Hussein will do," Cohen said of the Iraqi >president. "I can only tell you that US forces, British forces -- we are >prepared to take whatever action is necessary to make sure that he does not >attack his neighbors or attack his own people." Cohen, who has issued >similar warnings in recent days, indicated that US concern stems from past >Iraqi behavior rather than movements of Iraqi forces. >"He has certainly tried to exploit our election system in the past. He has >miscalculated on a number of occasions in the past. He would be making a >serious mistake if he were to try to move during this election period or >after this election period," he said. >Baghdad has raised tensions by accusing Kuwait of stealing its oil, the same >charges it leveled before invading the sheikdom in August, 1991. >Military exercises and reports that Iraqi fighters penetrated Saudi air >space earlier this month also have ratcheted up the pressure. > > >MISCELLANY++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > >Mariam Appeal to launch Iraq International >Work Brigades > >The London based Mariam Appeal recently announced their plans to form >monthly international work brigades who will help build a friendship village >in Iraq beginning May 2001. Mr Stuart Halford the Director of the Mariam >Appeal told ISM that the monthly work brigades will under the supervision of >Iraqi tradesmen and engineers engage in "reconciliation through >reconstruction" in an original form of international solidarity. > >Brigadiers will be in Iraq for exactly one month at a time from May until >October 2001 and every year thereafter. They will have a programme of >construction work in the mornings, lectures and discussions in the >afternoons and social and cultural activities in the evenings. Participants >should be able to speak either English or Arabic (there will be a translator >always on hand) and should be aged 18 and over. And of course they will need >to be fit enough for light construction duties and the heat of the Iraqi >summer. Brigadiers will be asked to make a contribution towards travel to >Amman. All other costs will be met by the Mariam Appeal which will fundraise >for that purpose. > >For further information please contact Stuart Halford at the Mariam >Appeal on [EMAIL PROTECTED] or by telephone on (0044) 207 403 5200 >_________________________________________________________ >Dear friends, >I am sure this online petition to end the sanctions against our Iraqi kin >will interest many of you: > >http://www.PetitionOnline.com/s343/ > >Khaled Bayomi > >_________________________________________________________ > >ADVERTISEMENT > > >Position Four Brigade Coordinators Required (Full Time - with 3 >months per year on site in Iraq) For the MARIAM APPEAL "Iraq International >Work Brigades" >Salary £ 20,000 per annum > >To Start January 2001 > >The Mariam Appeal, which campaigns for the lifting of sanctions on Iraq, is >sending a series of International Work Brigades to Iraq to build an >international friendship village that will be used as a centre for >international friendship and solidarity with the people of Iraq. > >The village will symbolise "reconciliation through reconstruction" and will >upon completion, be used by Iraqi children for recuperation, rest, education >and play. The project will enable people from all over the world to express >solidarity with the people of Iraq, who have suffered grievously under the >10 year embargo. The brigades will perform light construction duties (under >the guidance of Iraqi tradesmen) hold discussion and education sessions and >enjoy a variety of cultural and social activities. > >Interested ? think you have what it takes to organise international brigades >? then please contact us at : >MARIAM APPEAL >Brigades Department >13(a) Borough High Street >London SE1 > > > >tel: +44 (0)20 7403 5200 >fax: +44 (0)20 7403 3823 >email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >web: www.mariamappeal.com > > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. 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