RFE/RL IRAQ REPORT
Vol. 4, No. 4, 26 January 2001
A Review of Developments in Iraq Prepared by the Regional
Specialists of RFE/RL's Newsline Team
HEADLINES
'UDAY'S KUWAIT REMARKS PROVOKE ARAB RESPONSE
IRAQ NEGOTIATES HAJJ INCREASE
TURKEY-IRAQ RAIL LINK TO REOPEN THIS MONTH
SECOND UAE SHIP TO TRAVEL BETWEEN UAE AND IRAQ
SADDAM PRAISES HANOI FOR ITS LONGSTANDING FRIENDSHIP
IRAQ TO SIGN FREE-TRADE AGREEMENT WITH SYRIA
IRAQ-BASED GROUP CLAIMS CREDIT FOR TEHRAN ATTACK
IAEA REPORTS NO IRREGULARITIES IN IRAQ
IRAQ-SYRIA PIPELINE TO BE UNDER OIL-FOR-FOOD PROGRAM
IRAQI OPPOSITION GROUP PROPOSES NEW NATIONAL FRONT
IRAQI WRITER SAYS SAUDI ARABIA IN CRISIS
IRAQI MINISTER DISCUSSES RADIATION SECURITY IN MOSCOW
BAGHDAD TO REPLACE CURRENCY IN KURDISTAN
PUK, KDP MEET TO DISCUSS PKK
TALABANI APPOINTS NEW PM
'UDAY'S KUWAIT REMARKS PROVOKE ARAB RESPONSE. Recent remarks by
'Uday Saddam Husseyn in Baghdad's "Babil" on 30 December
(see RFE/RL Iraq Report of 19 January 2001), in which he
appeared to claim Kuwait as a still-integral part of Iraq,
have drawn fire from other Arab officials. Saudi Arabia's
Prince Saud Al-Faysal said in Tunis on 20 January said that
he was "sorry" that anyone in Baghdad would continue to use
such language, Riyadh's SPA reported. Meanwhile, 'Usamah Al-
Baz, political adviser to Egyptian President Husni Mubarak,
said that 'Uday's statements represented "a big mistake and
destrot any common ground for dialogue that could be held
between Iraq and Kuwait," according to Kuwait's "Al-Ra'y Al-
'Amm" of 20 January. Further afield, the Russian Foreign
Ministry through a spokesman said that suggestions that
Kuwait was part of Iraq did not represent Baghdad's official
position. (David Nissman)
IRAQ NEGOTIATES HAJJ INCREASE. An Iraqi Hajj Affairs
delegation met with Saudi Arabia's Hajj Minister Ayad Bin
Amin Madani to negotiate an increase in the number of Iraqi
pilgrims who will be allowed to make the hajj to Mecca, SPA
reported on 20 January. Up to now, only 12,000 Iraqis have
been allowed to make the pilgrimage, Now, under the new
accord, some 15,000 will be able to do so. (David Nissman)
TURKEY-IRAQ RAIL LINK TO REOPEN THIS MONTH. The railway
between Nusaybin (in the southeast Turkish province of
Mardin) and Baghdad will be reopened this month. It had been
closed by Syria in 1982 during the Iran-Iraq War. According
to "Anatolia" on 23 January, Turkish State Railways officials
have said that the railway would be reopened as a result of
Turkish initiatives. They also noted that all repair work in
Turkey, Syria and Iraq had been completed. The railway will
carry both passengers and cargo. (David Nissman)
SECOND UAE SHIP TO TRAVEL BETWEEN UAE AND IRAQ. The Senior
Undersecretary of the United Arab Emirates Transport and
Communications Ministry Jamil Ibrahim announced on 20 January
that a second UAE ship, Manar, will begin regular sea voyages
between the Rashid port in Dubai and the Iraqi port of Umm
Qasr, according to Baghdad Radio of 20 January. The UAE ship
Jabal Ali-1 started making this passage in November 1999. But
the "Gulf News" of 23 January noted that the general manager,
Samir Ahmad, of the Naif Shipping Company in Dubai has said
that two new ships, the Jabal Ali-2 and Jabal Ali-3 are being
added to the Rashid-Umm Qasr run next week. Ahmad added that
the shipping line plans to link up all the Gulf ports to
enable more people to travel. (David Nissman)
SADDAM PRAISES HANOI FOR ITS LONGSTANDING FRIENDSHIP. Saddam
Husseyn told visiting Vietnamese Deputy Premier Nguyen Cong
Tan that Vietnam is the only country which has maintained its
friendship with Iraq at the same level as before the Mother
of Battles. According to Baghdad Television on 20 January,
Saddam "has discovered that Vietnam's friendship is different
than that of others." The Iraqi leader instructed the Iraq-
Vietnam Committee to look for ways to strengthen relations
between the two countries and to raise them to the level of
brotherly relations so as to promote the interests of the two
friendly peoples. (David Nissman)
IRAQ TO SIGN FREE-TRADE AGREEMENT WITH SYRIA. Tariq 'Aziz,
deputy prime minister of Iraq, said on 21 January that
Baghdad will soon sign a free-trade agreement with Damascus
similar to the one it signed with Cairo last week, Reuters
reported on 21 January. The Egyptian accord has yet to be
ratified by the Egyptian parliament, but it is expected to
boost Egypt's exports to Iraq by $1 billion a year. Severed
at the time of the Gulf War, Iraq's ties with Syria have
gradually been restored over the last three years. (David
Nissman)
IRAQ-BASED GROUP CLAIMS CREDIT FOR TEHRAN ATTACK. The Iranian
opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq, an organization primarily
based in Iraq, claimed responsibility for four mortar shells
going off in northeastern Tehran, saying that the "attack was
carried out in response to the recent wave of executions and
the brutal sentences passed on young people by the
mullah's...judiciary," IRNA and Baghdad Radio reported on 21
January. (David Nissman)
IAEA REPORTS NO IRREGULARITIES IN IRAQ. International Atomic
Energy Agency officials left Baghdad on 24 January after
issuing a report that it had found no irregularities at
Iraq's nuclear site, UPI reported on 24 January. The four-man
delegation, headed by Ahmad Abu Zahra of Egypt, did say that
it had gathered information which will now be analyzed at
IAEA headquarters in Vienna. The investigators sought to
confirm that natural and enriched products were "still in the
right place." This check is not connected to the UN
disarmament inspections formed after 1991 but rather is in
line with the nuclear non-proliferation treaty Iraq signed in
1972. Meanwhile, the Ba'th Party newspaper "Al-Thawra" called
on the IAEA to help Baghdad to use atomic energy for peaceful
ends, "something which is its legitimate rights," AFP on 24
January. (David Nissman)
IRAQ-SYRIA PIPELINE TO BE UNDER OIL-FOR-FOOD PROGRAM.
Washington has said that the United States "would support a
request for this pipeline to be designated as one of the
authorized export routes under the Oil-for-Food Program, so
that payments then are made under UN control," according to
U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher on 23
January. Boucher pointed out that this question had been
discussed with the Syrian government and that Damascus had
responded that it has not reached a final agreement on this
point. (David Nissman)
IRAQI OPPOSITION GROUP PROPOSES NEW NATIONAL FRONT. London's
"Al-Zaman" on 23 January reported that an Iraqi opposition
group has issued a call for uniting national and democratic
forces into a new "national front." The appeal came from the
Iraq Democratic Popular Alliance. Signed by Sami Muhammad,
the document said that "the political scene in the opposition
has regrettably been dominated by rivalry, a struggle for
positions, a fight over grants and donations, a tendency to
adhere to a monopolistic mentality, as well as over-
confidence, megalomania, and other negative political action
ills." It also called for a central leadership which would
consist of "representatives of the opposition political
parties and organizations" as well as representatives from
the military and some independents. Various ethnic groups
were also named. (David Nissman)
IRAQI WRITER SAYS SAUDI ARABIA IN CRISIS. Sami Mahdi, a
journalist writing in the Ba'th Party newspaper "Al-Thawra,"
on 22 January said that Saudi Arabia is undergoing a series
of acute crises in politics, economics, security, society,
and public morality. To deal with these challenges, the Iraqi
writer said, Riyadh is "trying to export them abroad." And he
said that the Saudis have exploited hostility to Iraq as a
cover for this export operation. (David Nissman)
IRAQI MINISTER DISCUSSES RADIATION SECURITY IN MOSCOW. Iraqi
Health Minister 'Umid Midhat Mubarak and Russian Emergencies
Minister Sergey Shoygu met in Moscow to discuss humanitarian
aid and radiation security on 23 January, ITAR-TASS reported
on 23 January. (David Nissman)
BAGHDAD TO REPLACE CURRENCY IN KURDISTAN. According to a
Kurdish source in Iraqi Kurdistan, Baghdad has drawn up a
plan to withdraw old Iraqi currency printed outside Iraq that
currently is the coin of the realm in the Kurdistan Regional
Government. London's "Al-Sharq Al-Awsat" of 23 January says
that Iraqi government collaborators have been ordered to open
offices in regions adjacent to the KRG for this purpose.
Baghdad has been in the process of withdrawing foreign
currency, particularly the U.S. dollar, from the region over
the last several years. (David Nissman)
PUK, KDP MEET TO DISCUSS PKK. PUK officials met with their
opposite numbers in the KDP to discuss the PKK, the Kurdish
Observer reproted on 24 January. The two agreed to work to
expell the PKK from the region. Spokesmen for the two parties
also said that they hope to launch a new era in PUK-KDP
relations. A PUK spokesman, Feridun Abdulkadir, said that the
Washington process was essentially dead but that the Ankara
process can be renewed. His views were echoed by KDP
spokesman Hoshyar Zebari who said "there is no change in our
stance toward the PKK." (David Nissman)
TALABANI APPOINTS NEW PM. Jalal Talabani, PUK secretary
general, has appointed Dr. Barham Salih to be the new prime
minister of the PUK-controlled region of Iraqi Kurdistan.
According to the "Kurdistan Observer" of 16 January, experts
in the PUK-KDP conflict believe that with the appointment of
Salih, relations between the KDP and PUK are likely to
improve. Salih had been director of the PUK bureau of
international relations, based in Washington, and he
represented the PUK in the Washington peace negotiations
between the PUK and KDP. He replaces Kusrat Rasul, who
reportedly was uncomfortable with Talabani's developing
relationship with Turkey. In another sign of warming PUK-KDP
ties, Talabani reportedly has given instructions to the media
under his control to stop broadcasting propaganda directed
against the KDP. (David Nissman)
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