IRAQ SANCTIONS MONITOR Number 132
Thursday October 5, 2000
LATEST+++++++++++++++
(The editor apologises for today's late delivery - but that also means that
the latest news is included..!)
Emirates plane arrives in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) _ In a first by a Gulf Arab state, the United Arab
Emirates sent a plane to Baghdad Thursday to demonstrate its opposition to
U.N. sanctions imposed on Iraq for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
The Boeing 777, carrying 40 doctors, nurses and 10 tons of humanitarian
supplies, was met by Iraqi Labor and Social Affairs Minister, Lt. Gen. Saadi
Tu'ma, and Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh.
``The president, government and people of the United Arab Emirates want to
express our support for our Iraqi brethren and soften their burden,'' said
Health Minister Hamad Abdul Rahman al-Madfa on arrival in Baghdad.
The plane is the fifth by an Arab state to fly to Iraq since France and
Russia sent flights to Iraq nearly two weeks ago. But while Paris and Moscow
merely notified the U.N. Sanctions Committee of their flights and did not
wait for approval, flights by Arab states, including Thursday's, waited for
U.N. authorization before departing to Iraq.
The recent flights have prompted Iraqi officials to declare that the
U.S.-supported sanctions regime is crumbling.
The United Arab Emirates, which restored diplomatic relations with Baghdad
last year after a 10 year rupture, was the first Gulf Arab state to do so
and has been vociferous in demanding the lifting of sanctions.
It has also become one of Iraq's major trading partners, with the Iraqi
Trade Ministry estimating bilateral trade at nearly half dlrs 500 million
annually.
The embargo against Iraq can only be lifted after Iraq proves that it has
destroyed all its weapons of mass destruction and the capability to
manufacture them.
Baghdad says it has complied, but refuses to cooperate with U.N. arms
inspectors.
Saddam ready 'to destroy Zionism'
>From JERUSALEM POST, October 5th, 2000
LONDON - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein this week warned that Iraq could
destroy Israel if it had access to land adjacent to the Jewish state,
according to the state-controlled Iraqi media yesterday. Saddam was quoted
as saying that Iraq could quickly
extinguish Zionism if it was given a piece of land next to Israel, leading
analysts to speculate that Saddam might possess non-conventional warheads
for his short-range missiles.
Saddam is reported to be enraged about the latest clashes between Israel and
the Palestinians, whom he counts among his most ardent supporters, and was
shown on Iraqi television bashing his fist on a table in anger. He
criticized fellow Arab leaders for not doing enough to support the
Palestinians. At the same time, he said that the "great people of Iraq are
ready to destroy Zionism immediately," and called on Arabs to "brandish your
swords and make the necessary sacrifices."
1,000 stateless Arabs protest on Kuwait-Iraq border
SAFWAN, Iraq, Oct 5 (AFP) - More than 1,000 stateless Arabs demanding the
right to return to Kuwait from Iraq briefly ventured over border markers on
Thursday, an AFP journalist reported.
Helicopters from the 1,309-strong UN Iraq-Kuwait Observers Mission (UNIKOM)
hovered over the area while personnel observed the protest, the second since
Tuesday, in the demilitarised zone (DMZ) between the two countries.
The protestors, venting their anger at Kuwaiti authorities they accuse of
expelling them from the emirate after the 1991 Gulf War, overstepped several
UNIKOM-regulated boundary markers, around kilometre 92.
To cries of "Kuwait is our country", the protestors went by bus to UNIKOM
headquarters in the border town of Umm Qasr where they delivered a letter
condemning Kuwait's refusal to repatriate them, organisers said.
"We are determined to stay at the border until our demands have been met,"
Shalaan al-Shammari, president of the the committee for stateless Arabs in
Iraq, told AFP.
Scores of elite Kuwaiti troops moved up to the border with Iraq on Tuesday
amid a red alert to stop any bid by the stateless Arabs -- known as "bidoon"
in Arabic, meaning "without" -- to cross the frontier.
The protestors have erected 38 tents about 60 metres from the border line,
in violation of UNIKOM border rules.
Kuwait has dismissed the protest as a propaganda stunt by Iraqi agents,
orchestrated by Baghdad. Offfials in the emirate accused the protestors of
200
border violations Tuesday and Wednesday.
Kuwait says 102,000 bidoon live inside the emirate today, down from 225,000
prior to the Iraqi invasion in 1990.
Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Khalid al-Sabah said Wednesday that
between the end of the 1991 Gulf War, which ended the seven-month-long
occupation, and 1993, 26,000 bidoon returned to Iraq from Kuwait.
Some bidoon are from families based without official status in Kuwait for
several generations, while others are mostly Arab economic migrants
attracted
by the oil boom of the 1950s.
Algeria to send relief plane to embargoed Iraq
ALGIERS, Oct 5 (AFP) - An Air Algeria plane carrying food and medical and
educational supplies will fly to Iraq in "the next few hours", the official
APS news agency announced late Wednesday.
The flight to Baghdad has been organised by associations "responsible for
showing the solidarity of the Algerian people with the Iraqi people in the
face of the wide-ranging embargo imposed by the United Nations," the agency
said.
A team of 70 people would be on board, including the president of the
Algerian Red Crescent, Abdelkader oukhrofa, a representative of the Algerian
Committee of Support for the Iraqi People, Ahmed Baghdadi, and a former
ambassador to Cairo, Mohamed Benmohamed.
The past week has seen several such relief missions to the Iraqi capital as
part of a campaign against the UN embargo imposed on the country as a
measure
against President Saddam Hussein's regime. On Wednesday, a Tunisair plane
took
in a medical team, followed by flights from Jordan, Yemen and Morocco.
These initiatives by Arab nations, declaring their humanitarian solidarity
with the people of Iraq, followed Russian and French flights after Baghdad's
international airport reopened on August 17.
Turkey threatens to close military base to US planes
ANKARA, Oct 5 (AFP) - Turkey's parliament said Thursday it might not renew
the mandate of US planes using a Turkish base to enforce a no-fly zone in
northern Iraq if a US Congress resolution recognizing the killings of
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide were not averted.
"It will be difficult to maintain the current spirit of partnership and
understanding in the cooperation between Turkey and the United States if the
draft bill is adopted," a joint statement by the five political parties in
the
parliament said.
"If the House of Representatives approves the said resolution, the Turkish
parliament will evaluate the extension of the mandate of Operation Northern
Watch (ONW) in the light of changing circumstances," it added.
The government voiced a full-fledged support for the parliament's
declaration after a meeting to evaluate the developments on the bill.
"The cabinet has agreed that the parliament's statement is absolutely
appropriate and gives its full support to it," State Minister Rustu Kazim
Yucelen told reporters.
US and British jets based at Incirlik base in the southern province of
Adana have been enforcing a no-fly zone against Iraqi aircraft north of the
36th parallel since the end of the Gulf War in 1991. The jets regularly bomb
Iraqi anti-aircraft positions that target them.
ONW began on January 1, 1997 and since then the Turkish parliament has
renewed its mandate every six months. It was preceded by Operation Provide
Comfort, which ran from April 1991 to December 1996.
The latest renewal went into force on June 30 and expires at the end of
December.
Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit also said that the genocide bill could
affect US use of the Incirlik base.
Asked whether Turkish counter-moves against the bill would include the
closure of the base, Ecevit would only say: "there can be certain
developments
on this issue as well," Anatolia news agency reported.
Turkey, a successor state to the Ottoman Empire, postponed Wednesday a
planned visit to Washington by its army chief and toughened visa regulations
for Armenians in retaliation to the adoption of the controversial resolution
in a key congressional committee on Tuesday.
Ecevit expressed hope that the Clinton administration, which is also
opposed to the bill, would manage to prevent its ultimate approval when it
comes to the agenda of the full House of Representatives.
"Otherwise, Turkish-American relations will unfortunately suffer," he added.
The parliamentary statement said the Armenian genocide bill constituted a
"distortion of history with pure political motives."
Critics of the resolution accuse its sponsors of seeking to curry favor
among a substantial Armenian immigrant community in California, ahead of
elections in five weeks.
Turkey's moves were the first indications of a plan of counter-measures
which Ankara has threatened to activate against its key ally, the US, and
Armenia if the genocide resolution is not averted.
Armenia maintains that up to 1.3 million of its people were massacred in
1915, while Turkey says the figure was around 300,000.
Turkey categorically rejects claims of genocide and counters that thousands
of Turks also died in what was internal fighting during the dissolution
years
of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey does not maintain diplomatic relations with Armenia due to Yerevan's
international campaign for recognition of its genocide claims and because of
its conflict with Azerbaijan, a close ally of Turkey, over the ethnic
Armenian
enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Iraq rejoices in slow death of air embargo
BAGHDAD, Oct 5 (AFP) - The succession of planes landing in Baghdad confirms
the breakdown of the air embargo imposed on Iraq for a decade and the
failure of US policy towards the sanctions-hit regime, Iraqi officials said
Thursday.
"Flights are increasing despite efforts by the US administration to block
this surge of Arab solidarity with the Iraqi people to break the embargo,"
said Saad Kassem Hammudi, head of the Conference of Popular Arab Forces.
The United Arab Emirates flew medical aid to Iraq on Thursday, the first of
the affluent Gulf Arab monarchies to join the flow of solidarity flights
against the embargo slapped on Iraq for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Emirati Health Minister Hamad Al-Midfaa led a delegation of 40 people,
including doctors, nurses and journalists, which brought 10 tonnes of
medicines to Baghdad.
"The arrival of the Emirati plane proves that the position of people in the
Gulf is not one the United States is looking to impose on them. It is a
position rejecting the embargo and aggression against Iraq," Hammoudi said.
He urged other oil-rich Gulf monarchies to undertake similar initiatives.
It was the fifth flight from an Arab country to land in Baghdad, after
planes arrived from Jordan, Yemen, Morocco and Tunisia.
A flight from Algeria was expected late Thursday, while Turkey said
Wednesday that it had given the green light for a humanitarian flight to
Iraq.
The Arab initiatives follow Russian and French flights to Iraq since Saddam
airport was reopened in mid-August. Moscow and Paris notified the UN
sanctions committee but did not await clearance.
The Emiratis said they followed their example.
The five permanent members of the UN Security Council disagree on whether
non-commercial flights need to be authorised.
Paris and Moscow, along with Beijing, say the sanctions do not cover private
non-commercial flights. London and Washington insist that all flights must
have approval from the sanctions committee.
The Emirates flight was decided by UAE President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan
al-Nahayan, a long-time supporter of lifting sanctions, who renewed
diplomatic ties with Baghdad in July.
Midfaa said the trip was "in solidarity with our brothers in Iraq and to
ease the burden of the embargo under which they live".
"We bring a message of sincere friendship from the Emirates, which strives
to deepen friendly relations between the Arab people and to strengthen Arab
ranks." But Iraq is still awaiting more Arab countries to resume normal air
links, and Iraqis want to be able to fly out themselves too.
"It's good to see planes from brotherly or friendly countries landing in
Baghdad, but we want to travel from this airport instead of going 1,000
kilometres (625 miles) by road to Amman to fly from the Jordanian capital's
airport,"
Bbusinessman Mahmoud Abdel Rahman, 65, told AFP.
Calls by the Iraqi government for the return of 15 Iraqi Airways planes that
Baghdad dispatched to Jordan, Tunisia and Iran for safekeeping on the eve of
the 1991 Gulf War have so far fallen on deaf ears.
Tension over Iraq keeps oil prices high (ABIX Summary)
>From THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW, ABIX, October 4th, 2000
Renewed tensions between Iraq and Kuwait have kept global oil prices high.
Kuwait has accused Iraq of stealing oil through a pipeline laid during
Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990-91. On 3 October 2000, oil prices in
Asia were above $US32-a-barrel. The New York Mercantile Exchange November
crude oil futures were $US32.08-a-barrel, cutting $US0.10 from the $US1.34
gain in New York trading on 2 October 000. The United States Government
has promised to release 30 million barrels of oil from its reserve oil
stocks in October 2000
Iraq Refutes Kuwaiti Claims of Oil Theft, XINHUA
BAGHDAD, October 4 (Xinhua)--An Iraqi Oil Ministry source has vehemently
lashed out at the Kuwaiti claims that Iraq stole Kuwaiti oil during its
occupation of Kuwait in 1990.
In a statement carried by the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) on Wednesday,
the source said, ``This was another lie released by the Kuwaiti regime to
divert the attention on regular and continuous plundering of Iraqi oil from
Al-Rumaila and Al-Zubair oilfields.'' Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister Mohammad
Deifallah Sharar claimed last Sunday that Iraq siphoned a huge amount of
Kuwaiti oil through a pipeline to Iraq during its occupation of Kuwait a
decade ago.
The Kuwaiti official said that a ``fresh study by the Kuwaiti Research and
Studies Center containing satellite photos proved Iraq is indeed the party
that plotted and executed theft of Kuwaiti oil.'' The tension between the
two neighbors has been rising recently.
Iraq accused Kuwait on September 14 of stealing its oil near the
Iraqi-Kuwaiti border and threatened to ``take necessary measures.'' Kuwait
denied it was doing anything more than taking oil from its own territory and
accused Baghdad, whose 1990 invasion of Kuwait led to the 1991 Gulf War, of
trying to trigger a new regional war.
Moreover, Iraq has repeatedly accused Kuwait and Saudi Arabia of being
``full culprits'' by collaborating with the U.S. and Britain to attack Iraq.
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait allow the U.S. and Britain to use their bases to
monitor the southern and northern no-fly zones in Iraq, imposed by the
Western allies in the wake of the Gulf War.
The U.S.-led allies also use a base in Turkey to monitor another no-fly zone
in northern Iraq.
Tunisian plane lands in Iraq, carrying doctors and aid
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) _ In the latest symbolic challenge to U.N. sanctions,
Tunisia flew a plane of doctors, football players and humanitarian aid to
Iraq on Wednesday.
The plane had received authorization from the U.N. sanctions committee, but
the leader of the 70-person Tunisian delegation, Saleem Shinoub, said its
aim was to show that Tunisia's government and people stood firmly behind the
Iraqi struggle to have the embargo lifted.
The deputy head of Iraq's National Olympic Committee, Aseel Tabra, met the
Tunisians at Baghdad airport. Among the visitors was a soccer team that is
expected to play a match against an Iraqi side.
The flight is the fourth by an Arab state since France and Russia revived
humanitarian flights to Iraq nearly two weeks ago.
Paris and Moscow merely notified the sanctions committee of their flights
and did not wait for approval.
The United States criticized France and Russia, describing the flights as a
``blatant violation'' of the U.N. embargo on Iraq.
The subsequent planes from Jordan, Yemen and Morocco obtained U.N.
permission.
But one of the organizers of an Egyptian flight, Seif Allah Imam, said
Wednesday that their plane would fly to Baghdad after only notifying the
U.N. committee.
The flight, planned for next week, would not wait for U.N.
approval, said Imam, who is a senior member of the Egyptian pharmacists'
association.
The United Arab Emirates plans to fly a plane to Baghdad on Thursday
carrying medical and humanitarian aid, a government official said in Dubai
on condition of anonymity. It was not immediately known whether the flight
would be cleared by the U.N.committee.
Iraq has welcomed such flights as a sign that sanctions are collapsing. The
embargo, imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, can be lifted only
after Iraq proves that it has destroyed all its weapons of mass destruction.
Baghdad says it has done so, but it refuses to cooperate with U.N. arms
inspectors.
Annan complains about high amount of ``holds'' in Iraq aid program
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 dlrs 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 dlrs 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 dlrs 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, dlrs 30 million worth
of contracts were taken off hold but that another dlrs 183 million worth was
tied up, including one contract for dlrs 110 million.
Turkey authorizes first humanitarian flight to Baghdad
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) _ Turkey on Wednesday authorized for the first time a
plane of medical supplies to fly to Baghdad, the foreign ministry said in a
statement.
It was unclear if Turkey planned to seek the approval of the U.N. sanctions
committee, which authorizes flights to Iraq, and no schedule for the flight
was announced.
The sanctions committee had not received an application from Turkish
authorities by Wednesday afternoon.
Turkey's decision to authorize the flight was seen as a retaliatory move
against the United States after a committee of U.S. lawmakers approved a
resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide.
Foreign Ministry officials denied that the move was linked to the
resolution, private television NTV reported.
France, Russia, and several Arab states have revived humanitarian flights to
Iraq over the past two weeks in what is seen as a mounting challenge to U.N.
sanctions on Iraq. Paris and Moscow merely notified the sanctions committee
of their flights and did not wait for approval.
The United States criticized France and Russia, describing the flights as a
``blatant violation'' of the embargo.
Turkey, a key U.S. ally, has warned Washington of retaliatory actions if the
Armenian genocide resolution is approved by Congress.
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.
Iraq ready to establish rail link with Turkey
BAGHDAD, Oct 4 (AFP) - Iraq is prepared to open a rail link with Turkey,
running through Syria, a senior Iraqi transport ministry official said
Wednesday.
"Iraq is ready to establish a rail link with Turkey for the transport of
passengers and goods," the official INA news agency quoted transport and
communications ministry under secretary Sabri Kateh as saying.
Salim Oughlou, Turkey's charge d'affaires in Iraq, said after a meeting
with Kateh, that his country "fervently hopes that a train can be put on the
line between Iraq and Turkey via Syrian territory as soon as possible."
A railway connecting Istanbul and Baghdad via Syria was constructed during
the Ottoman empire.
In August, train service was reestablished between the northern Iraqi city
of Mosul and Aleppo in Syria after a 19-year hiatus that was brought on by a
break in diplomatic relations after Syria announced its support for Iran in
that country's war with Iraq.
Mercy flights to Iraq not against UN resolution'.
KUALA LUMPUR, Mon. - Plans by Umno Youth's International Bureau and
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to send food and medical supplies to
Iraq on a humanitarian mission, is not against the United Nations (UN)
resolution.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said that this was because the
UN allowed humanitarian aid to Iraq even though it imposed economic
sanctions on the country following the Gulf War.
Further, he said, the no-fly zone enforced by the United States and Britain
over certain areas in Iraq was against international law.
"That is why we feel that even though there are restrictions, the move to
send medical supplies and food is not against the UN resolutions.
"We (Malaysia) have never agreed to the no-fly zone. To us, it violates
international law. They should first get the clearance from the UN Council.
"Now that the restriction was made on their own, we consider it unlawful and
hence, sending aid is not against the UN," he told newsmen after launching
the third series of the Salam Nusantara documentary at Wisma Putra today.
Syed Hamid said this when asked to comment on when Malaysia would be sending
its mercy flight, containing medicine and food, to Iraq and whether the
Government is expecting objections from the United States and Britain.
Last month, both the countries were against actions by private organisations
of France and Russia who sent mercy flights to Iraq.
He said: "The mercy flight is an initiative by the Umno Youth and NGOs, and
not the Government."
Tunisian plane lands in Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Oct 4 (AFP) - A Tunisair plane with doctors and medical aid on
board landed in Baghdad on Wednesday, in the latest Arab solidarity flight
against decade-old sanctions, Iraq's official news agency INA said.
Aboard the Airbus 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.
Jordanian, Yemeni and Moroccan planes have also landed at Saddam
International Airport since September 27, in a wave of flights to test a UN
air embargo, part of a sanctions regime 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. Paris and Moscow notified the UN
sanctions committee but did not await clearance unlike the Arab flights.
Tunisian officials said the sanctions committee had been "notified" of the
latest flight and that a second was planned for October 15.
Aeroflot signs MOU with Iraqi Airways
OCT 3, 2000, M2 Communications - Aeroflot, a Russian carrier, has signed a
memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iraqi Airways regarding the
recommencement of regular scheduled flights between Russia and Iraq.
Regular air services to Iraq have been suspended since 1990 when Iraq
invaded Kuwait, however there have been recent moves to overturn the ban on
flights, with several countries, including Russia and France, operating
`humanitarian` flights to Iraq without authorisation from the United
Nations. Both Russia and France argue that the UN Security Council never
adopted a specific text banning all flights to or from Iraq
The MOU states that Aeroflot will resume flights to Iraq `within the
framework of a bilateral interstate agreement on air service` however it is
unclear whether or not such an agreement has been prepared according to
Reuters. The MOU also provides for Aeroflot establishing a representative
office in Iraq and for Iraqi Airways to do the same in Moscow.
Vnukovo Airlines, a Russian domestic carrier, has also indicated its
intention to begin flights to Iraq and is apparently waiting on government
permission.
US releases $4 million for Iraqi opposition
By Agence France-Presse Washington--Oct. 3--The State Department said that
last Friday it agreed to provide $4 million of U.S. funding to an umbrella
organization representing Iraqi opposition groups. The funds will aid
humanitarian, public information and other activities and "advance the Iraqi
National Congress' ongoing operations," State Department spokesman Philip
Reeker said in a statement.
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