RFE/RL IRAQ REPORT
Vol. 3, No. 37, 10 November 2000
A Review of Developments in Iraq Prepared by the Regional
Specialists of RFE/RL's Newsline Team
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HEADLINES
* BAGHDAD LASHES OUT AT ISRAEL
* IRAQI FLIGHTS TO BASRA, MOSUL RESUME
* UDAY TORTURES IRAQI NATIONAL SOCCER PLAYERS FOR LOSING
* IRAQ MOVES TO BREAK OUT OF DIPLOMATIC ISOLATION
* BAGHDAD, KYIV SLATED TO BECOME SISTER CITIES
* KIRKUK GOVERNOR CALLS ON UN TO STOP ARABIZATION
* BARZANI SAYS KURDISH ADMINISTRATION 'DEAD'
* KURDISH TRIBAL CONFLICT ERUPTS IN HALABCHA
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BAGHDAD LASHES OUT AT ISRAEL.
Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz told an
international seminar on the occasion of the 1,200th
anniversary of the Abbaside Bayt Al-Hikmah (House of Wisdom)
that "the struggle we are now waging in Iraq and Palestine is
not a struggle over land and resources...it is a struggle
between two civilizations." He added that the Western
"attack" on Iraq in 1991 was the attack of a "false
civilization" on a true one. Meanwhile, Izzat Ibrahim, deputy
secretary of the Iraq Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'th
Party, discussed with Ba'th Party officials and secretaries
of the party branches the different ways to train Iraqi jihad
volunteers to liberate Palestine from "the claws of the lowly
Jews, who are descendants of monkeys and pigs and worshippers
of the infidel tyrant," according to a report on Baghdad
Radio on 6 November. (David Nissman)
IRAQI FLIGHTS TO BASRA, MOSUL RESUME.
Iraq resumed domestic flights to Basra and Mosul on 5
November for the first time since 1991. Basra is inside the
southern no-fly zone, and Mosul the northern. These are the
first Iraqi flights to the area since 1991. The Iraqi
military is not allowed to fly fixed-wing aircraft of
helicopters into the zones, but on 3 November, the United
States indicated that it had no objection to civilian
aircraft going to these cities (see "RFE/RL Iraq Report," 3
November). But State Department spokesman Richard Boucher
noted that aircraft flying anywhere in Iraq could face
danger, especially over the no-fly zones. Baghdad attempted
to put its spin on this development when Iraqi Foreign
Minister Muhammad Sa'id Al-Sahhaf said to Al-Jazirah
Satellite Television on 5 November that the "no-fly zones are
illegitimate" and that "operating domestic flights is part of
our efforts to stop the U.S.-U.K. crime, represented by
imposing the two no-fly-zones." (David Nissman)
UDAY TORTURES IRAQI NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM FOR LOSING.
Three members of the Iraqi national soccer team that
lost in the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup competition were
singled out for torture by Uday Saddam Husseyn upon their
return to Iraq, London's "Daily Telegraph" reported on 5
November. The paper says that the three were "beaten and
whipped for three days" in the basement of the Iraqi Olympic
Committee building. This is not the first time Saddam's
eldest son has used torture to try to force Iraqi athletes to
improve their performance. But it hasn't always worked: one
athlete who was tortured in the Al-Radwaniyah prison managed
to escape from the country. (David Nissman)
IRAQ MOVES TO BREAK OUT OF DIPLOMATIC ISOLATION.
Iraq has taken a series of moves to try to break out of
its current diplomatic isolation. London's "Al-Quds Al-Arabi"
reported on 8 November that Egypt has now restored diplomatic
ties with Baghdad.
Meanwhile, for the first time in nine years, Saudi
Arabia has decided to open a land border-crossing with Iraq
in order to expedite the entry of Saudi exports in accordance
with contractual agreements approved by the UN Sanctions
Committee, according to London's "Al-Sharq Al-Awsat" of 7
November.
In other moves, Iraqi Vice President Taha Yasin Ramadan
and Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu-Al-Raghib signed a
protocol on trade and economic cooperation on 3 November,
according to Iraqi official radio on 3 November. Iraqi
Foreign Minister Muhammad Sa'id Al-Sahhaf met with Yemeni
President Ali Abdullah Salih last week, according to the
"Yemen Times" of Sana'a of 5 November. President Saddam
Husseyn received Tareq Ekram, Pakistani Minister of State and
envoy of General Pervez Musharraf, chief executive of the
Islamic Republic of Pakistan, according to a report by
Baghdad Radio on 4 November.
And Iran's Minister of Roads and Transportation Mahmud
Hojjati met in Baghdad with Iraqi Vice President Taha Yasin
Ramadan to discuss the expansion of transportation links
between the two countries, IRNA reported on 6 November.
Hojjati was in Baghdad to attend the Baghdad International
Trade Fair.
In Europe, Vojislav Seselj, president of the Serbian
Radical Party (SRS), met on 7 November with the Iraqi
Ambassador to Yugoslavia, Sami Sadun, Tanjug reported. And in
Asia, Tokyo has decided to reopen its embassy in Baghdad,
"Yomiuri Shimbun" reported on 5 November. But a new Japanese
ambassador to Iraq will not be named. The Japanese charge
d'affaires stationed in Jordan will continue to fill the post
of acting envoy to the country.
Meanwhile, a 17-member Russian delegation headed by
Aleksandr Pivovarov, deputy minister for industry, science,
and technology, arrived in Baghdad on 6 November, AFP
reported on 6 November. Only a week earlier, a Russian
delegation composed of 250 Russian deputies, oil executives,
and other industrialists flew into Iraq for the Baghdad
International Trade Fair.
And a Russian delegation is to visit Iraq by air in mid-
November, according to a report by ITAR-TASS on 6 November.
The visit is to take place within the framework of the Anti-
Blockade Action, said an official in the Russian Academy of
Geopolitical Problems. The purpose of the action is to draw
the attention of the world to the situation in Iraq as a
result of the economic blockade. In Iraq, delegation members
plan to discuss ways of lifting the blockade and working out
concrete proposals on a program of bilateral cooperation
between the two countries.
But regular Russian-Iraqi flights are still a matter for
the future. Iraqi Transport Minister Ahmad Murtada, after a
meeting with Aleksei Sapkinen, vice president of Vnukovo
Airlines, told AFP that "the resumption of regular flights,
four times a week, will only happen when we receive Foreign
Ministry clearance." (David Nissman)
BAGHDAD, KYIV SLATED TO BECOME SISTER CITIES.
Baghdad is to become the sister city of the Ukrainian
capital of Kyiv when the Iraqi capital's mayor visits Ukraine
early next year, according to a Ukrainian radio report on 6
November. Meanwhile, a joint Ukrainian-Iraqi committee
currently is discussing problems with the Baghdad
infrastructure, primarily water purification, the sewage
system, and the electricity grid. (David Nissman)
KIRKUK GOVERNOR CALLS ON UN TO STOP ARABIZATION.
Abdullah Izz-Ad-Din Shaswar, acting governor of Kirkuk,
on 1 November appealed to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan,
the permanent members of the Security Council, international
human rights organizations, and all Iraqi political parties
to help end Baghdad's policy of the arabization of Kurds,
Turkmen, and Assyrians, the Sulaymaniyah newspaper
"Kurdistani-Nuwe" reported.
Shaswar pointed out that in the last month alone, Iraqi
officials have expelled some 147 people from the liberated
areas of Kirkuk and Al-Sulaymaniyah governorates and scores
more sent to Irbil and southern Iraq. Once families are
identified as candidates for expulsion, he said, one member
is arrested as a hostage to force the others to comply.
He argued that this arabization policy is "a blatant
violation" of UN Security Council 688, as well as UN
Resolution 986 (oil-for-food), "because often when the Iraqi
government expels citizens from Kirkuk and its environs, it
seizes their food rations, and deprives them of food for
several months, until the new ration tickets are issued to
them." (David Nissman)
BARZANI SAYS KURDISH ADMINISTRATION 'DEAD.'
In a statement to London's "Al-Hayat" on 28 October, KDP
leader Mas'ud Barzani conceded that the Kurdish
administration in northern Iraq is now "dead," as is the 50-
50 deal with PUK leader Jalal Talabani. And he suggested that
as a result, the "continuation of dialogue" with President
Saddam Husseyn's regime is now inevitable. In other comments,
he accused Talabani of going back on his stand on the 50-50
division of the Kurdish administration, and maintained that
they should go back to the results of the 1992 elections.
He said that the KDP does not object to holding new
elections under the supervision of the UN, the Arab League,
or neutral observers. And he noted that relations with Iran
have improved and that ambiguities in the relationship with
Ankara had been removed. (David Nissman)
Talabani expressed surprise at Barzani's statements. In
a rejoinder which appeared in London's "Al-Hayat" on 31
October, Talabani said that "if his administration is dead,
why does he have a council of ministers and a government in
Irbil?" Talabani also claimed that Barzani had many "secret
and open links" with the central government since 1992 that
were openly acknowledged by Iraqi Deputy Premier Tariq Aziz.
And he reaffirmed his commitment to the Washington Agreement.
(David Nissman)
KURDISH TRIBAL CONFLICT ERUPTS IN HALABCHA.
Irbil's "Brayati" newspaper on 28 October reported that
tensions between the Zardoyee and Ilkhani tribes in Halabcha
have exploded into fighting with deaths on both sides.
Branch-12 of the KDP reportedly sent a message to the two
tribes and all residents in the city expressing its sorrow
about the incident and expressing the hope that the fighting
ends immediately and that "the sons of the two tribes stop
killing each other."
The message also said that "we consider ourselves
responsible for safeguarding the people's interests,
regardless of their political views," and "we always tried to
establish fraternity and tolerance to solve social problems."
The PUK also intervened to resolve the tribal dispute.
According to "Kurdistani Nuwe" of 1 November, they formed a
higher committee in cooperation with the General Guide of the
Islamic Unification Movement, and held several meetings with
the disputing parties who expressed their intention to end
the dispute.
Meanwhile, bombs placed in small businesses have caused
some injuries in Irbil, according to the Irbil newspaper
"Regay Kurdistan" of 1 November. The attacks appear to have
been carried out by Islamist groups and "mercenaries of the
spying agencies of the Baghdad regime," the paper said. It
noted as well that the city has suffered "daily" incidents
such as acid attacks on women, attacks that the paper said
represented an effort to block the KDP-PUK peace process.
(David Nissman)
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