RFE/RL IRAQ REPORT
Vol. 4, No. 12, 13 April 2001
A Review of Developments in Iraq Prepared by the Regional
Specialists of RFE/RL's Newsline Team
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HEADLINES:
* SCIRI ADDS CONDITIONS TO ANY U.S. TALKS
* FIC SEES EXPANDED U.S. SUPPORT FOR OPPOSITION
* 25 PRISONERS EXECUTED NEAR BAGHDAD
* SADDAM CHANGES INTELLIGENCE CHIEFS
* GCC MEETING PROVOKES BAGHDAD
* PUTIN SEEN EXPANDING MOSCOW-BAGHDAD TIES
* YUGOSLAVIA, IRAQ DISCUSS ECONOMIC TIES
* WASHINGTON SAID MULLING MORE AID TO KURDISTAN
* KDP, PUK AGREE ON CRIMINAL PROCEDURES
* WILL THERE BE A WATER WAR?
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SCIRI ADDS CONDITIONS TO ANY U.S. TALKS. Ayatollah Sayyid
Muhammad Baqir Al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the
Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), said that Iraqi Islamic groups
would be willing to hold talks with the U.S. government only as part
of an effort to gain international support for the Iraqi nation's
struggle against Saddam Husseyn, IRIB reported on 8 April. He thus
distanced himself from a report in London's "Al-Hayat" last week
which said that SCIRI is prepared to talk to Washington. (See RFE/RL
Iraq Report, 6 April.)
Meanwhile, London's "Al-Sharq Al-Awsat" reported on 6 April
that Ayatollah Ali Khamene'i had personally approved a direct link
between SCIRI and the U.S. A source close to the Maqar Al-Nasr
headquarters command told the newspaper that the approval was the
result of long-drawn-out efforts by SCIRI, Iranian President Mohammad
Khatami, and the Maqar Al-Nasr, which is a bureau under Khamene'i.
"Al-Sharq Al-Awsat" on 10 April suggests that this willingness
on SCIRI's part reflects a coming together of Saddam Husseyn's
opponents into "an anti-regime alliance." The paper said that "there
are now people on both sides (Iran and U.S.) who believe that
cooperation against Saddam could ultimately lead to the normalization
of relations between Tehran and Washington." (David Nissman)
FIC SEES EXPANDED U.S. SUPPORT FOR OPPOSITION. The Free Iraqi
Council (FIC) held a meeting in London under the chairmanship of Sa'd
Salih Jabr to discuss the new possibilities for the Iraqi opposition
in the light of "the new U.S. administration's approaches and
contacts with new Iraqi opposition groups," London's "Al-Zaman"
reported on 5 April.
Among those in attendance were Iyad Alawi from the National
Accord Movement, Abd-Al-Sattar Al-Duri from the Pan-Arab Grouping,
and Husayn Al-Sha'lan in a personal capacity and not as a
representative of the Centrist Tendency. Independent figures, such as
Muhammad Bahr Al-'Ulum, Husayn Al-Sadr, Major General Fadil Assaf and
the independent Kurdish figure Mahmud 'Uthman,also took part. Sources
added that the Iraqi Communist Party sent apologies for not attending
the meeting, as did certain factions in Damascus. SCIRI and the
Democratic Accord Grouping were not invited.
The session produced little agreement besides a commitment to
meet again in two weeks. (David Nissman)
25 PRISONERS EXECUTED NEAR BAGHDAD. Irbil's "Tariq Al-Sha'b"
reported on 1 April that 25 people had been brutally executed at Abu
Ghurayb prison, south of Baghdad. The paper cited an eyewitness
account that the bodies had been disfigured by the large number of
bullets used. (David Nissman)
SADDAM CHANGES INTELLIGENCE CHIEFS. London's "Al-Hayat" on 5
April reported that Saddam Husseyn had fired General Tajir Jalil al-
Habbush as the country's intelligence chief and named Major General
Hasib Al-Rifa'i in his place. An opposition newspaper, "Al-Ittijah
Al-Akhbar," put out by the Iraqi Homeland Party said that Al-Habbush
has been named governor of Salah Al-Din Province and that Al-Rifa'i's
appointment was intended to improve the image of the intelligence
services. Al-Habbush, who was head of the military intelligence
branch in Basrah during the Iran-Iraq War, was involved with the use
of chemical weapons in the past. (David Nissman)
GCC MEETING PROVOKES BAGHDAD. The six-member Gulf Cooperation
Council discussed the Iraq situation at a meeting in the Saudi border
town of Hafar Al-Batin, the home of the GCC defense forces, AFP
reported on 6 April. Baghdad's "Al-Qadisiyah" reported that the Hafar
Al-Batin meeting was held under U.S. orders and represented an
attempt by Saudi and Kuwaiti leaders to increase tension. The Ba'th
party newspaper "Al-Thawra" on 8 April added that in its view the
meeting was a "provocation." It asked rhetorically: "What would
happen if civilian or military Iraqi leaders met in Basrah and
announced from there that their meeting was devoted to discussing the
situation in Kuwait or Saudi Arabia and that the meeting served as a
message? Would the Saudi and Kuwaiti rulers not say that Iraq is
threatening them or preparing for an attack on them?" (David Nissman)
PUTIN SEEN EXPANDING MOSCOW-BAGHDAD TIES. Iraqi Ambassador in
Moscow Muzhir Al-Duri said in an interview published in "Nezavisimaya
gazeta" on 7 April that Russian-Iraqi ties have increased
dramatically since Vladimir Putin became president a year ago. He
added that the upcoming visit of Iraqi Vice President Taha Yasin
Ramazan to Moscow on 18 April will feature the signing of framework
accords that should lead to the expansion of trade between the two
countries. Such trade now amounts to "more than $1.5 billion," the
ambassador said. Al-Duri also agreed with recent Russian suggestions
that the sanctions regime has cost Moscow some $30 billion in lost
income. And he thanked Putin and the Russian government for pushing
to end the sanctions regime. (David Nissman)
YUGOSLAVIA, IRAQ DISCUSS ECONOMIC COOPERATION. Miroljub
Labus, Yugoslav deputy premier and foreign trade minister, and Sami
Sa'dun, Iraqi ambassador to Yugoslavia, discussed expanding
cooperation under the oil-for food program between the two countries,
Tanjug reported on 9 April. (David Nissman)
WASHINGTRON SAID MULLING MORE AID TO KURDISTAN. Barham Salih,
the head of the PUK-controlled region of Iraqi Kurdistan, was quoted
by Kurdsat on 7 April as saying that David Welch, who is the acting
assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs,
backs improving assistance to Kurdistan under UN Resolution 986.
Salih made these comments after attending a meeting at the U.S. State
Department. Another Kurdish official who took part in the meetings
told Kurdsat on 4 April that the new U.S. administration is still
considering its policy options in the Middle East. (David Nissman)
KDP, PUK AGREE ON CRIMINAL PROCEDURES. KDP and PUK officials
agreed that individuals charged with crimes are to be tried where
they committed them even if those involved are from a different
place, the "Kurdish Observer" reported on 10 April. The two
established a Joint Security Committee to consider problems in
travelling between the regions they control as well as other legal
and security questions. In other developments, the KDP is preparing
to hold local elections in Irbil (Hewler), Duhok, and other regions
next month. Such voting has already taken place in the PUK-controlled
area. (David Nissman)
WILL THERE BE A WATER WAR? Turkey's efforts to exploit water in
the Tigris and Euphrates to help develop its southeast have increased
tensions between Ankara and the capitals of Syria and Iraq, which
must deal with the loss of water flow through their countries. In
the past, these states have attempted to develop water-sharing
agreements to ensure that downriver states do not suffer from the
actions of those upriver. But these accords have been difficult to
achieve and equally difficult to enforce.
Iraq has been growing increasingly concerned by Turkey's dam
projects. In December 1998, the Iraq National Assembly denounced what
it said was Turkey's inappropriate use of Tigris and Euphrates waters
(see "RFE/RL Iraq Report," 13 November 1998.). The recent
rapprochement between Syria and Iraq gave Baghdad hope that something
could be done. At the beginning of February this year, Iraq and
Syria signed a water-sharing accord, something London's "Al-Sharq Al-
Awsat" said on 2 February was "the clearest message to be sent yet by
the two Arab countries to their common neighbor Turkey on the need to
take into consideration the needs of littoral countries."
Intriguingly, even the Iraqi opposition is seeking to play a
role in the matter. Dr. Adnan Al-Pachachi, a former Iraqi foreign
minister who now heads the Iraqi Centrist Democratic Trend in London,
said in the same paper last 23 September that his movement has set up
an ad hoc committee on water-sharing issues.
Al-Pachachi said that water has always been one of the major
issues between Turkey and Iraq, even since the Lausanne Agreement of
1923, and despite the provisions of the friendship treaty between
Iraq and Turkey in 1946. When Al-Pachachi went to Ankara in the
1960s, he said, he stressed to Turkey that it had to respect Iraq's
historically acquired rights to the river flows.
Conflicts between Iraq and Turkey on this issue are complicated
by the rise of the Kurdish areas in northern Iraq as a result of the
no-fly zone and the moderation of the PKK-led Kurdish uprising in
Turkey itself. The former means that Baghdad may have to find some
way of reaching agreement within its own borders and the latter that
the international community and funding agencies may be less willing
to help Turkey build dams and thus develop the southeast,
particularly if such construction could trigger a broader conflict.
(David Nissman)
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