RFE/RL IRAQ REPORT
Vol. 4, No. 16, 11 May 2001
A Review of Developments in Iraq Prepared by the Regional
Specialists of RFE/RL's Newsline Team
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HEADLINES
* IRAQ WARNS TURKEY AGAINST 'SMART SANCTIONS'
* IRAQ EXPANDS COOPERATION WITH JORDAN AND SYRIA
* BAGHDAD RAILWAY ROLLS AGAIN
* SADDAM PROMISES 'INFINITE' SUPPORT FOR
PALESTINIANS
* SADDAM SEEKS TO BOOST OIL PRODUCTION...
* ...AND PHARMACEUTICAL OUTPUT
* SADDAM NAMES EX-INTELLIGENCE HEAD AS BAGHDAD
GOVERNOR
* ZHIRINOVSKY REASSERTS MOSCOW'S SUPPORT FOR IRAQ
* SERBIAN PARTY LEADER HAILS SADDAM AND IRAQ
* CUBAN LEADER SAYS U.S. VIOLATES HUMAN RIGHTS
* BELARUS TO OPEN TRACTOR FACTORY IN IRAQ
* BELGIAN PEACE FORUM SEEKS TO END IRAQI SUFFERING
* IRAQI ATTACK AGAINST KURDISTAN REPULSED
* BARZANI TELLS TURKS THAT PKK PRESENCE IS
UNACCEPTABLE
* PUK STREAMLINES TOP OFFICES
* KDP, ISLAMIC DA'WA DISCUSS RELATIONS
* KDP, PUK MEET WITH OTHER PARTIES
* U.S. OFFICIAL MEETS WITH TURKMEN FRONT
REPRESENTATIVE
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IRAQ WARNS TURKEY AGAINST 'SMART SANCTIONS' Baghdad officials
warned a visiting Turkish trade delegation against any
cooperation with U.S.-sponsored "smart sanctions," "The
Turkish Daily News" reported on 7 May. "Smart sanctions"
refer to a tighter arms embargo combined with less strict
control over trade in civilian goods. Iraqi Deputy Premier
Tariq Aziz generalized this point when he told reporters that
"any country that deals with the new American plan will lose
its trade dealings with Iraq." But he argued that neighboring
countries will not go along with Washington because they
would suffer economic losses if they do. (David Nissman)
IRAQ EXPANDS COOPERATION WITH JORDAN AND SYRIA. Wasif Azar,
Jordanian minister of industry and trade, met with officials
in Baghdad in early May to work out a program of expanded
cooperation with Iraq, Baghdad radio reported on 5 May. Trade
between the two countries within the oil-for-food limits
already totals more than $2 billion. Meanwhile, Iraqi
Industry and Minerals Minister Adnan Abd-Al-Majid received
the Syrian minister of oil and mineral resources to discuss
expanding cooperation between their two countries, Baghdad
Radio reported on 2 May. (David Nissman)
BAGHDAD RAILWAY ROLLS AGAIN. For the first time since 1982,
the Baghdad railway is operational, with trains running from
eastern Anatolia to the Iraqi capital, "The Turkish Daily
News" reported on 6 May. Turkish officials said the reopened
line will promote social and economic development in Turkey,
Syria, and Iraq. (David Nissman)
SADDAM PROMISES 'INFINITE' SUPPORT FOR PALESTINIANS. Iraqi
leader Saddam Husseyn told visiting Palestinian National
Council Chairman Salim Za'nuni that Iraqi "support for the
Palestinian people is infinite because Iraq and Palestine are
one, and we decided to offer financial support and ourselves
to the Palestinian people and its blessed Intifadah," INA
reported on 8 May. After Za'nuni's visit, Saddam gave an
order that all Palestinians are to be allowed to study
without charge at higher educational institutions in Iraq,
Baghdad television reported on 9 May. (David Nissman)
SADDAM SEEKS TO BOOST OIL PRODUCTION... Saddam Husseyn met
with Oil Minister Amir Muhammad Rashid and other senior oil
officials on 5 May to discuss ways to improve production in
the oil sector, Baghdad television reported that day. The
station said Saddam had stressed that expanding oil
production would help to industrialize the country,
strengthen its military, and thus break the UN embargo
against it. (David Nissman)
...AND PHARMACEUTICAL OUTPUT. Saddam Husseyn met with
officials in the health and industry ministries to discuss
expanding production of pharmaceutical products, Baghdad
television reported on 8 May. The Iraqi leader called for
expanding the role of the private sector in this area and
said he would remove all obstacles to private production. In
other comments, Saddam said that the Americans and their
allies are "stealing Iraq's wealth under the UN umbrella and
on the pretext of the so-called reparations." (David Nissman)
SADDAM NAMES EX-INTELLIGENCE HEAD BAGHDAD GOVERNOR. Saddam
Husseyn named Sabir Abd-Al-Aziz Al-Duri, former head of the
Mukhabarat, to be governor of Baghdad, according to London's
"Iraq Press" of 2 May. Sabir had been dismissed from his
earlier post in 1994 as part of a campaign against members of
the Al-Duri tribe, but a year later he was rehabilitated and
named governor of Karbala. (David Nissman)
ZHIRINOVSKY REASSERTS MOSCOW'S SUPPORT FOR IRAQ. Russian Duma
Deputy Speaker and LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky told
Iraqi officials during his visit to Baghdad that Moscow will
seek to lift the embargo against Iraq and that he sees Saddam
Husseyn as a hero for those fighting against American
hegemony, Baghdad television reported on 5 May. Zhirinovsky
earlier attended birthday celebrations for Saddam in Tikrit.
(David Nissman)
SERBIAN SOCIALIST LEADER HAILS SADDAM AND IRAQ. Zoran Lilic,
a leader of the Socialist Democratic Party of Serbia, came to
Baghdad to hail Saddam Husseyn and his people, "who are
adamantly confronting the conspiracies mounted by the forces
of evil and aggression," Baghdad Radio reported on 8 May.
Lilic called for expanding ties between Iraq and Serbia as
part of a common effort of struggle against "the aggressive
and evil imperialist plots." (David Nissman)
CUBAN LEADER SAYS U.S. VIOLATES HUMAN RIGHTS. Gomex Abascal,
a member of the Cuban Communist Party Central Committee, said
in Iraq that the vote removing the U.S. from the UN Human
Rights Commission reflects international recognition of
American "human rights violations" in Iraq, Cuba, and
elsewhere around the world, Baghdad radio reported on 7 May.
He and his interlocutors discussed ways of "consolidating
ties between the Arab Socialist Party and the Cuban Communist
Party, particularly in the area of professional unions and
all that serves the struggle against imperialism and world
Zionism." (David Nissman)
BELARUS TO OPEN TRACTOR FACTORY IN IRAQ. Under the terms of
agreements recently signed between Minsk and Baghdad, Belarus
will open a tractor factory in Iraq, modernize a glass
factory, complete a water-purification plant, and supply 600
trucks to Baghdad, "Belorusskaya delovaya gazeta" reported on
4 May. (David Nissman)
BELGIAN PEACE FORUM SEEKS TO END IRAQI SUFFERING. Raymond
Cumont, head of the Belgian Peace Forum Society, arrived in
Baghdad to take part in the fifth meeting of the follow up
and coordination committee stemming from the Baghdad
Conference for Solidarity with Iraq, Baghdad radio reported
on 7 May. The Belgian group seeks to end the embargo as part
of an effort to reduce the suffering of the Iraqi people.
Deputy Premier Tariq Aziz and other Iraqi officials praised
its work. (David Nissman)
IRAQI ATTACK AGAINST KURDISTAN REPULSED. Forces under the
leadership of the PUK repulsed an Iraqi army effort to occupy
parts of Kurdistan around Kifri early in May, according to
the website KurdishMedia on 6 May. Meanwhile, the Kurdish
branch of the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP[K]) announced that
on 2 May its forces had driven back another Iraqi attack
against Garmiyan, in South Kirkuk, at the line of contact
with Iraqi forces. London's "Al-Hayat" reported on 7 May that
the Mujahadin-e Khalq organization has denied that any of its
members took part in the attack on Kifri. (David Nissman)
BARZANI TELLS TURKS PKK PRESENCE IS UNACCEPTABLE. Masud
Barzani, the leader of the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP),
told Turkish officials in Ankara on 7 May that "the presence
of the PKK in our region is unacceptable," the "Kurdistan
Observer" reported the next day. Barzani also praised the
recent rapprochement with the PUK and discussed American
moves concerning Iraq with Turkish Prime Minister Bulent
Ecevit. (David Nissman)
PUK STREAMLINES TOP OFFICES. PUK leaders have issued a series
of decrees calling for the streamlining of local and regional
governments, "Kurdistan Nuwe" reported on 3 May. One of the
decrees specified that "we need an effective management
system to control expenditures in order to fulfill the
responsibilities and pledges for providing efficient services
and insuring that government employees are paid on time."
(David Nissman)
KDP, ISLAMIC DA'WA DISCUSS RELATIONS. KDP leaders met with
representatives of the Islamic Da'wa Party to explore a basis
for cooperation, Irbil's "Brayati" newspaper reported on 1
May. The two also discussed more general issues, including
their attitudes toward international policies directed at
Iraq. (David Nissman)
KDP, PUK MEET WITH OTHER PARTIES. KDP and PUK officials on 2
May met with a joint delegation of the Iraqi Communist Party,
the Kurdish Islamic League, the Kurdistan Independence Labor
Party, and the Assyrian Democratic Movement, "Zinda" reported
on 9 May. (David Nissman)
U.S. OFFICIAL MEETS TURKMEN FRONT REPRESENTATIVES. Mustafa
Diya, representative of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, met with a
junior State Department official in Washington, Irbil's
"Turkmen Eli" reported on 29 April. The American official
explained the new U.S. policy towards Iraq and said
Washington will look into the Iraqi Turkmen Front's reports
of human rights violations directed against Turkmen. Diya
urged the U.S. to issue a statement calling for the
protection of the national rights of the Turkmen. (David
Nissman)
Copyright (c) 2001. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free
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