-Caveat Lector- >From ArabicNews.CoM Green light to finance Syrian - Jordanian al-Wahda dam Syria, Politics, 4/6/99 Well-informed sources in Damascus told the London-based al-Hayat daily that Arab and international establishments had given the "green light" to take part in financing the Syrian-Jordanian al-Wahda dam which will be installed on al-Yarmouk river. In this respect the chairman of the water department in the Syrian Ministry of Irrigation, Abdul Aziz al-Masri, noted "positive indications" that Turkey will join to the water meetings between Syria and Iraq to negotiate over a just and reasonable division "for the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers" between the three countries. He said that waters may constitute bridges of peace and cooperation between Ankara and Damascus, al-Masri indicated that certain international agreements "avails resorting to arbitration by any side whose water problem cannot be settled" with a neighboring state. He considered the arbitration an important issue in the hands of Syria and Iraq in the future if the water crisis cannot be solved with Turkey. Al-Masri was talking in the symposium under the title "Monitoring water resources: its importance and applications," which was concluded on Monday in Damascus in which Iraq and other Arab states took part. The Syrian engineer talked about international waters and the intention of both Syria and Lebanon to establish a "joint dam" on the al-Kabeer river between the two states. On water relations with Jordan, al-Masri, who takes part in the negotiations with the neighboring states, said that after renovating the feasibility study of al-Wahda dam whose project was suspended in 1987 due to Israel's pressure on the World Bank in order not to finance the project: "We await our Jordanian brothers to convene an international conference to have a financing for the dam. There is a green light by certain establishments to finance this dam." However, well-informed sources in Damascus noted current contacts with the Kuwaiti Fund for Social and Economic Development and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development to take part in the financing process and that World Bank experts showed "readiness to finance the dam whose costs are estimated at US $300 million." Concerning the issue of water-sharing with Turkey, al-Masri said, "The Euphrates river constitutes a basic water source for both Syria and Iraq," and the relations in this respect are "Turkish - Arab' relations. He added, "When we say that there is a Turkish Syrian agreement it means an Arab-Turkish agreement." He continued that if international agreements are taken into account, "we find that it is our right to reach a fair division for the waters of the Euphrates." He indicated that there are attempts to "revive the tripartite Syrian, Turkish and Iraqi committee which did not meet since the end of 1992." He added that among these attempt are the recent visit of Syrian Deputy Premier for Economic Affairs Salim Yassin in March to Ankara and reaching a security agreement between Syria and Ankara in October 1998. Experts taking part in the symposium warned that Turkey is planning "through the project to develop al-Anadoul southeast (Ghab)" to reduce the share of Baghdad and Damascus of waters into 350,000 cubic meter per second. Jordan announces breakthrough in Jordanian-Israeli water problem Jordan, Economics, 4/6/99 A Jordanian official said on Tuesday that there has been a "clear breakthrough" in the water problem between Jordan and Israel, MAP reported. During a tour of major Jordanian newspapers, minister of water and irrigation, Kamal Mahadeen told "Al-Rai" newspaper that the Israelis re-asserted their commitment to all terms of the peace treaty with Jordan. According to the 1994 peace treaty, Jordan is to get 50 million cubic meters of water from Tiberias lake annually. Israel decided last month to reduce Jordan's share from the israeli-controlled lake by almost half, claiming it was forced to take this step due to drought. Addressing the parliament, Jordan's minister Abdulraouf Rawabdeh said his country insists on getting its full rights of water. "Our right in the waters is clear and we'll obtain it in full." During their discussion of the Israeli-Jordanian treaty, parliament members proposed the abolishment of the peace treaty, due to Israel's non-compliance with its terms regarding water. Experts expect oil boom in Libya Libya, Economics, 4/6/99 Libya's turnover of two suspects in the 1988 Lockerbie plane downing is likely to attract major international oil companies, Kuwaiti news agency KUNA quoted experts in New York as saying. The likely return of oil companies is also motivated by the suspension of UN sanctions against Libya. Besides Libya, the key beneficiaries will be ENI SPA of Italy, already Libya's biggest foreign oil producer and Lasmo PLC of Britain, experts said. Both companies are expected to make major investments in Libya's oil industry. No American company is currently active in Libya after Exxon and Mobil corporations pulled out in 1992. According to the source, Libya lost $ 24 billion in potential oil revenues since the security council enforced sanctions in 1992. Oil income, which used to account for 95% of Libya's hard currency earnings, fell by more than one third last year as crude prices slumped. The Libyan government told the UN sanctions committee that 21,000 people have died as a result of the embargo, including 16,000 who perished because they could not be taken abroad for emergency surgery. Kuwaiti deputy asks government to reject Yugoslavia's ambassador Kuwait, Politics, 4/6/99 Waled El-Tabatabani a deputy in the Kuwaiti Parliament asked yesterday the Kuwaiti authorities to reject immediately Stalstaf Stakits, the Yugoslavian ambassador to Kuwait, without hesitation to support the people of Kosovo. He also asked the government to boycott the Serbian government and all means of political and economic cooperation with it. He urged the government to send immediate aid to the refugees of Kosovo along with sending forces from the Kuwaiti Army to participate in protecting the region. El-Tabatabani referred to the Iraqi system's support to the Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic against the innocents of Kosovo. Kuwait urged the international community to intensify its efforts to stop the killings and the ethnic purges in Kosovo and state its intention to send aid for the refugees soon as as possible. Copyright � 1998 Arabic News .com . All Rights Reserved. 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