IRAQ SANCTIONS MONITOR Number 129 Friday, September 29, 2000 LATEST++++++++++++++++LATEST+++++++ Saddam grabs the limelight with oil warnings >From MIDDLE EAST ECONOMIC DIGEST, September 29th, 2000 President Saddam Hussain is once again in the international limelight, raising fears of military action against Kuwait and demonstrating his ability to disrupt international oil markets. Iraq's latest moves are believed to be partly tied to the US presidential election schedule, which climaxes in early November. Saddam warned fellow OPEC members on 17 September not to bow to pressure from Western powers to lower oil prices. One week earlier, OPEC had decided to raise output by 800,000 barrels a day (b/d) to bring soaring prices under control. The president's warning helped push oil prices the following day to a 10-year peak. Market analysts said that with little extra output capacity within OPEC, Iraq's exports, which have averaged about 2.3 million b/d in recent weeks, could allow Baghdad a key role in markets. The Iraqi president likes to keep his country's case on the international agenda - maintaining pressure on the UN to relax or end sanctions imposed after his invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. Speculation is that Saddam Hussain may encourage higher oil prices to put economic pressure on the US and other Western countries opposed to the lifting of sanctions. Before Saddam's warning to OPEC, Oil Minister Amer Mohammed Rasheed had accused Kuwait of sabotage by drilling for oil in a border zone and depleting Iraqi reserves. "Suitable measures" would be taken, he warned. The official press later said Iraq's complaint did not constitute a threat to Kuwait, but the statement on 16 September brought assurances from the US that it stood by Kuwaiti sovereignty and helped push up oil prices. On 18 September, Kuwait said it would welcome surveys by impartial experts of oil fields on the border to disprove the allegation that it was stealing Iraqi oil, using horizontal or angled drilling techniques. Kuwaiti officials said Iraq's accusations were aimed at preventing plans to develop oil fields close to the joint border with the help of major oil companies. There is also speculation that Baghdad is trying to apply pressure ahead of a late-September meeting in Geneva to discuss a claim by Kuwait Petroleum Corporation for damage caused by the 1990/91 Iraqi occupation. The UN compensation commission proposed in June that the company be awarded $15,900 million. Baghdad has also written to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan complaining about damage inflicted on the Iraqi-Saudi pipeline because of the suspension of oil exports since August 1990. The letter, presented on 19 September, also refers to the Saudi appropriation of what Baghdad says was 11 million barrels of crude stored at the Al-Moajjez terminal. Russia has recently started a new campaign to convince the UN to lift sanctions - claiming that the Russian economy has lost $30,000 million in Iraqi business since 1990. In the third week of September, a Russian plane carrying 11 oil executives and five tonnes of aid flew to Baghdad on a high-profile mission. Another such mission was planned for later in the month, Iraqi officials said. A senior Russian official said in Moscow on 19 September that the mission had not broken UN sanctions. UN officials say Moscow had notified the UN sanctions committee of a relief flight, without mentioning the presence of any oil officials. Iraq's supporters are counting on a change of policy under a new US administration after the November presidential election. The Clinton administration maintains its tough stance. On 14 September, it told Congress it plans to give the opposition Iraqi National Congress (INC) the first half of an $8 million grant - representing a big increase in the level of financial support for Saddam Hussain's opponents. The INC will spend the money on broadcasting, humanitarian relief and other non-military programmes, officials said after a meeting in New York between Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and the INC. Only factors beyond its control may affect oil supply By BridgeNews Caracas--Sept. 2--Iraq's supply of oil to world markets would only be disrupted by matters "beyond our control," not by political reasons, Iraq VicePresident Taha Yassin Ramadan said Thursday. * * * The slow pace of approval by the United Nations of contracts for spareparts to repair an upgrade Iraq's oil infrastructure could impact future oil production and supply, he said, although he could not say when that could occur or how much supply may be in jeopardy. In a press conference following the heads of state summit here, Ramadan would not commit Baghdad to participating in the next round of the United Nations' oil-for-food program, which allows Iraq to sell unlimited amounts of oil to purchase humanitarian supplies and pay costs associated with the 1990 Gulf war. The current, eighth phase of the program ends in early December. "Everything will be studied in the proper time," he said. "For each (6-month) stage, Iraq is forced to take whatever decisions are necessary." The Memorandum of Understanding that administers the program is "badly applied, but what else can we do? After the eighth stage we are going to decide at the proper time." Iraq is no threat to Kuwait: Iraqi vice president >From AFP ENGLISH, September 29th, 2000 CARACAS, Sept 28 (AFP) - Iraq does not threaten Kuwait in any way, Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan said after an OPEC summit here Thursday. "There is no threat from Iraq to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia," he said at a news conference. This is an invention by the United States to maintain US and British forces in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and to maintain the embargo against Iraq," he said. Kuwait has said it took measures, with help from its allies, to counter any attack from Iraq, which it accused of continuing to threaten its neighbors. Asked whether there had been any talks between the Iraqi and Kuwaiti delegations at the Caracas summit, Ramadan said: "There is no dialogue nor contact between us and the Kuwaiti regime, neither in Caracas nor anywhere else." He also reiterated claims that Kuwait "steals" Iraqi oil. Iraq claims that its neighbor pumps oil from Iraq along the border. Ramadan attended the two-day OPEC summit instead of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who has not left his country since the 1990-1991 Gulf war. Iraq dismisses suggestions it will stop oil supplies CARACAS, Sept 28 (AFP) - Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan on Thursday dismissed suggestions his country may halt exports of crude to send prices skyrocketing. "We will not stop supplying oil," he said at a news conference following a two-day summit of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC.) But he said Iraq's oil output was being affected by a multilateral embargo against his country, saying the Gulf country could not import the equipment needed for the maintenance of its oil installations. "Twenty percent of contracts are affected by this embargo, and this affects Iraq's capacity to produce oil," he said. Yemeni plane leaves for Baghdad with FM on board SANAA, Sept 29 (AFP) - A Yemeni plane left Sanaa Friday for Baghdad, the second flight in three days from an Arab country after more than 10 years of sanctions against Iraq, an official Yemeni source said. The delegation on the flight is led by Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdel Qader Bajammal, the source said. IRAN'S OIL PRODUCTION AVERAGES 3.575 MLN BPD IN JAN-MAY: REPORT ROME, Sept 28 Asia Pulse - Italian Oil Union announced Tuesday that Iran averaged production of 3,575,000 bpd of crude over the January-May period. A union official told IRNA on the threshold of the OPEC summit in Caracas that no change was observed in Iran's production in the period. Previous estimates said Iran averaged 3.65 million bpd in June, added the source. He said that Iraq, Kuwait and the UAE with 2.5, 1.24 and 2.23 million barrels of day production on average a day witnessed 17, 5.1 and 3.8 percent growth in in their production in the January-May period respectively. According to the same source Libya, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia produced 1.36, 7.72 and 1.135 million barrels of oil a day in the first five months of the year. 1.3, 0.9 and 0.1 percent increase was observed in the output of the countries respectively, added the union official. Police arrest Iraqi who attempted to hijack plane AMMAN, Jordan (AP) _An Iraqi man who made a half-hearted attempt to hijack a Jordanian plane has been arrested, Jordanian civil aviation said Thursday. The Royal Jordanian flight carrying 119 people from San'a, Yemen, landed safely at Amman airport early Thursday, the director general of Jordan's Civil Aviation Authority, Capt. Jihad Irhseid, said. Irhseid told The Associated Press the Iraqi had surrendered to aircraft security without any violence. Shortly after the plane took off from Sanaa, ``he sent a letter to the captain through an attendant saying that he was assigned to hijack the plane and to kill the pilot, but that he doesn't want to do so and wants to surrender,'' Irsheid said. He said the hijacker claimed to have hand grenades, but ``investigations afterward proved they were fake.'' Security officials said the Iraqi was being interrogated to determine his motive and who was behind the attempt. The officials insisted on anonymity. No other details were immediately available. It was the third hijack attempt involving Jordan in three months. On July 5, security guards shot and killed a Syrian man who tossed a grenade in Royal Jordanian plane flying to Syria, wounding several people as he attempted to divert the plane to Germany. On Sept. 14, an Iraqi armed with a knife forced a Qatar Airways plane bound for Amman to land in Saudi Arabia. He surrendered to Saudi police, saying he was afraid Jordan would hand him over to Iraq. Iraqi dinar soars following government's decision to drop use of dollar BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) _ T The Iraqi dinar rose significantly against the dollar Thursday after a government order demanding both private and state banks to gradually drop the use of the dollar in favor of other hard currencies. In early trading Thursday, the dinar surged to 1,600 against the dollar from 1,990 the previous day. Money changers in Baghdad said Iraqis were in a rush to get rid of the greenback fearing the government may even ban its circulation. Deputy Prime Minister Hikmat Mizban Ibrahim, also head of the influential government-run Economic Affairs Committee, issued instructions Tuesday requesting Iraqi ministries to stop use of the dollar in foreign business transactions because ``it belongs to an enemy state.'' Trade Ministry officials who handle Iraq's multibillion external trade under the U.N.-approved oil deal said they have notified Iraq's trading partners to quote their prices in hard currencies other than the dollar. Iraq trades with about 50 countries, with major partners including France, Russia, China, Jordan, Egypt and Vietnam. Speaking on customary condition of anonymity, the officials said Iraqi banks have also been instructed to draw up plans to dispose of their dollar stashes. As part of a government economic liberalization program started in 1995, Iraqis were up to now allowed to open dollar accounts in local banks. It is not clear whether Iraq's State Organization for the Marketing of Oil, Iraq's oil marketing arm, has made similar requests to governments and companies buying Iraqi crude. Iraq exports an average of 2.4 million barrels a day under the U.N-controlled oil deal which allows it unlimited exports on condition the proceeds are used for the purchase of food, medicine and other essential needs. Officials say the surge in the dinar's value was also partly spurred by a feeling of optimism in Baghdad that the removal of U.N. sanctions, imposed for Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, is just round the corner. Latest challenges to the sanctions have come France and Russia, Iraq's main backers at the U.N. Security Council, who sent planes to Baghdad recently without proper authorization from the U.N. sanctions committee which vets Iraqi exports and imports under the oil deal. On Thursday, the United States and Britain, Iraq's main opponents at the council, had to accept a compromise deal reducing to 25 percent from 30 percent the amount Iraq is obliged to earmark for a Gulf War reparations fund from its oil revenues. The excess money would amount to about dlrs 1 billion over a year under current oil prices. Last time the dinar rose significantly was in 1995, when its value surged to 500 to the dollar from 3,000 following Iraq's acceptance to U.N. terms to sell oil. Iraq faces Pounds 11bn war bill >From THE TIMES, September 28th, 2000 James Bone THE big powers at the United Nations struck a deal yesterday to force Iraq to pay Pounds 11billion in compensation to the Kuwaiti Petroleum Company for the oil-well fires started by retreating Iraqi troops in the Gulf War (James Bone writes). The 15-nation UN compensation commission is due to approve the record award at the end of its three-day meeting in Geneva today, despite complaints by Russia and France that the damages could provoke an Iraqi backlash. Syria says Turkish water cuts will harm population, agriculture DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) _ A Syrian official said Thursday that further cuts in the water flow from Turkey would have a severe impact on almost half of the Syrian population, who are already suffering from the effects of a regional drought. ``Turkey has started reducing the flow of water to Syria without prior notice to Syrian authorities,'' a senior official at the Ministry of Irrigation said on condition of anonymity. Turkish officials said Tuesday that the drought has forced them to cut the water flow to Syria by two-thirds. The Syrian official said the water cut would have a severe impact on almost half of the Syrian population, who depend on the Euphrates for drinking water, and on the agricultural and electrical sectors. A 1987 agreement requires Turkey to provide Syria with 500 cubic meters (17,500 cubic feet) a second of Euphrates water. Syria says the amount has continually decreased in recent years, getting as low as 75 cubic meters (2,625 cubic feet) one day this month, but Turkey claims it has been sending much more than the agreement calls for. A Syrian water expert with the ministry, Majed Daoud, said the flow from Turkey varied daily, but was averaging about 200 cubic meters (7,000 cubic feet) a second. On Tuesday, Dogan Altinbilek, chief of Turkey's State Water Works Institute, said Turkey is currently releasing an average of 160cubic meters (5,600 cubic feet) of water per second from the Euphrates River. The difference in numbers could not be explained. So far this year, Syria has reached only 40 percent of the annual rainfall average, estimated at 45 billion cubic meters. Sixty percent of Syrian farms depend on rain for irrigation. According to a report released Wednesday by the official al-Baath newspaper, the capital Damascus is suffering a water shortage of about 260,000 cubic meters (9.1 million cubic feet) daily. Water is being rationed in Damascus and garden watering and washing the exterior of buildings is prohibited in all Syrian cities. Some remote towns occasionally run dry for a day. TV and radio have launched a wide-scale campaign urging Syrians to be careful while using water and many punitive measures, including jail sentences and fines, were also introduced this year for wasting water. Daoud said the Ataturk Dam in southeastern Turkey is full and that there is no legal justification to prevent a fair share of the Euphrates River according to the 1987 agreement. Altinbilek warned the Foreign Ministry to update the 1987 agreement with Syria to add a drought clause. He said that in case of drought, Syria should reduce the flow of the Euphrates water to Iraq rather than demand more water from Turkey. Turkey and Syria have long been at loggerheads over sharing the waters of the Euphrates River. Turkey is building dams along the river, which Syria claims could sharply reduce the flow of water into northern Syria. Kuwaiti War Claim Approved >From WASHINGTON POST, September 28th, 2000 The U.N. Security Council agreed today to approve a $15.9 billion compensation claim against Iraq by the Kuwaiti Petroleum Corp. for the destruction of its oil fields during the final days of the Persian Gulf War. The settlement, which is likely to take well over a decade to pay, is the largest award for war reparations ever granted against Iraq. It also sets the stage for a U.N. compensation commission in Geneva to begin considering more than two dozen other billion-dollar-plus claims by governments and corporations for financial losses as a result of Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Under the terms of a U.N.-brokered "oil-for-food" deal, Iraq has been obliged to set aside 30 percent of its oil revenue for reparations. Over the past nine years, the commission has awarded more than $15 billion to nearly 2.6 million claimants -- mostly individuals with small claims -- with virtually no opposition. But as the commission turned its attention to big-ticket claims by governments and corporations earlier this year, Iraq, Russia and France protested, arguing that too much money was going to wealthy Persian Gulf sheiks and too little to ordinary Iraqis who have endured a decade of economic sanctions. Russia and France have held up the Kuwait Petroleum Corp. award since June in an effort to win the Security Council's assent to reduce the portion of Iraqi oil proceeds set aside for reparations from 30 percent to 20 percent, with the balance to go to the U.N. humanitarian program in Iraq. However, Russian and French diplomats endorsed the Kuwaiti claim after the United States agreed this morning to compromise on a 5 percentage point reduction, valued at about $1 billion. The change will go into effect on Dec.10. James Cunningham, deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Washington will work hard to ensure that the money is targeted to improve the lives of ordinary Iraqis and not to enrich the Iraqi leadership. Since 1991, the compensation commission has received 2.6 million claims worth more than $300 billion. U.N. officials say about $245 billion in claims remain unresolved, including 26 valued at more than $1 billion apiece and 6,500 worth less than $1 million each. With about $400 million going into the fund each month, it could take decades to settle all the claims. The deal provided fresh evidence that American efforts to maintain tight economic sanctions on Iraq are weakening. Jordan today became the first Arab nation to authorize a passenger flight to Baghdad since Iraq reopened its international airport for business last month. Jordan: Prime minister expected to visit Baghdad in October Excerpts from report by Jordanian TV on 28th September A Jordanian plane arrived in Iraq with a high-level delegation on board, including ministers, members of parliament and journalists. The Royal Jordanian airbus, the first Arab flight into Iraq in 10 years received a warm welcome by Iraqi officials at the airport... Prime Minister Ali Abu-al-Raghib is expected to visit Baghdad next month. He will be the first Arab premier to visit Iraq in 10 years. Source: Jordanian TV, Amman, in English 1900 gmt 27 Sep 00 Turkey welcomes embargo-defying flights to sanctioned Iraq ANKARA, Sept 28 (AFP) - Turkey welcomed Thursday the organization of humanitarian flights to its southeastern neighbour Iraq in defiance of the decade-old UN embargo against Baghdad. "We see the civil flights to Iraq primarily as an effort to meet the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people. We attach great importance to this issue and view it positively," foreign ministry spokesman Huseyin Dirioz said in a written statement. Five planes, three Russian, one French and one Jordanian, have landed in Baghdad since mid-August despite strong criticism from the United States. A second French plane is planned to come to Baghdad from Paris on Friday, while Iceland, India, Syria and Yemen have all voiced intentions to send planes to Iraq. Dirioz also recalled that Turkey had given permission to the French and Russian planes, which landed in Baghdad last week, to use its airspace without seeking approval from the UN sanctions committee. "Our decision is based on the related resolution of the UN Security Council, " the spokesman added. Turkey's standpoint differed from that of its key ally the United States, which has expressed displeasure over the growing number of countries challenging the UN embargo. Iraq has been under international sanctions since it invaded Kuwait in August 1990, including an air embargo which is at the heart of the controversy. The US and Britain say that UN authorisation is needed to fly to Baghdad, while France, like China and Russia, maintains that the UN resolutions do not cover an air embargo and therefore a simple notification of flight plans suffices. Jordanian aircraft leaves Iraq The Jordanian aircraft which brought a government delegation to Iraq on Wednesday departed on Thursday, Iraqi radio reported. The delegation held talks with a number of Iraqi officials on how to bolster ties to the benefit of the "two sisterly countries", the radio said. "They emphasized Jordan's position, which supports Iraq's legitimate cause that calls for the condemnation of blatant US-British aggression and lifting the unjust siege that has been imposed for more than a decade," the radio said. Source: Republic of Iraq Radio, Baghdad, in Arabic 28 Sep Experts declare sanctions on Iraq a failure >From UPI SPOTLIGHT, September 28th, 2000 WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- U.S. sanctions and policies toward Iraq have failed, a former four-star general, a U.N. arms inspection chief and a Reagan-era Pentagon official told the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday. But they see contrary ways ahead -- staying the course, tightening sanctions, or an armed overthrow of Saddam Hussein. New flights pierce Iraq sanctions >From THE GUARDIAN, September 28th, 2000 By BRIAN WHITAKER MIDDLE EAST EDITOR Jordan yesterday became the third country within a week to send a plane to Baghdad, as Saddam Hussein intensified his campaign to force an end to economic sanctions as the west is heavily dependent on Iraqi oil. Russia, Iceland and Jordan have all notified the UN sanctions committee of plans for further flights within the next two days, and flights from Syria and India are also planned. Flights from Russia and France have taken place in recent days. Organisers cite humanitarian assistance as the basis of past and impending flights, saying that sanctions do not apply to relief planes. Iraq, meanwhile, is preparing a new challenge to British and American resolve over the no-fly zones in the north and south of the country, set up to protect the Kurdish and Shi'a communities from repression by the Baghdad regime. It has completed repairs to Mosul airport in the northern no-fly zone, and is expected to start internal flights from there to Baghdad soon, the first for more than 10 years. Iraq will argue that civilian aircraft are outside the UN's no-fly rules. Last night, however, western diplomatic sources said they believed such flights would be an infringement of the zones. The French, Russian and Jordanian flights have respected the zones. In London, a Foreign Office spokesman said Britain's policy is to 'encourage organisations to provide additional assistance to the Iraqi people' but that all flights had to be approved by the sanctions committee, which must decide whether they contain a strong humanitarian element. The committee's interpretation of 'humanitarian' will be tested tomorrow afternoon when a second flight leaves France, this one carrying politicians, doctors and artists from European countries. Sabah al-Mukhtar of the Mariam Appeal, one of the groups involved in the flight, said 'humanitarian' should not mean only food and drugs: 'When you express solidarity with an oppressed people, that is also a humanitarian gesture.' Another organiser said the flight was also a political statement:'to show no one needs UN permission to fly to Iraq'. The organisers have not sought approval from the UN sanctions committee, though the flight has been approved by the French government. Whether it intended to notify the committee was unclear. Britons due to join the flight include Labour MP George Galloway, Labour peers Lord Nazir and Lord Rea, BBC disc jockey Andy Kershaw and singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl.'Once we have regular civilian flights from Moscow, Amman and Paris', an Iraqi official recently told the Guardian 'sanctions will be at an end'. But a Foreign Office spokesman said: 'The Iraqis think that the more flights there are, the greater the pressure is going to be for commercial flights to be allowed. That does not necessarily follow.' Unlike humanitarian flights, commercial flights are forbidden by sanctions, he said. In a further move to weaken support for sanctions, Iraq last week offered to buy 20 new airliners from the European consortium, Airbus Industrie. Military spokesman reports US-British air raids on 28th September >From BBC MONITORING INTERNATIONAL REPORTS, September 28th, 2000 Once again, the US and British ravens of evil have violated our airspace coming from Saudi and Kuwaiti territories. The Saudi and Kuwaiti regimes are directly supporting these foreign infidels to desecrate our holy lands by allowing these rancorous ravens to cruise Saudi and Kuwaiti territorial waters and take off from their territory. They are paying for the aggression against Iraq, the country of banners and glories, from the wealth of the Saudi and Kuwaiti peoples. Today, we ask Saudi and Kuwaiti citizens an important question. We ask them: Why do the Saudi and Kuwaiti rulers bombard Iraq? In a statement to the Iraqi news agency, a spokesman for the Air Defence Command said that at 1145 [0745 gmt] on 28th September 2000, the US and British ravens of evil violated the airspace of great Iraq. They carried out 24 combat air sorties backed by an AWACS from Saudi airspace and four sorties backed by an A2-C from Kuwaiti airspace. They flew over areas in the governorates of Basra, Al-Muthanna, Dhi Qar, Maysan, `Al-Qadisiyah', Karbala and Al-Najaf. MISCELLANY++++++++++++++++++++ I wonder whether you might put details of a new e-discuss group on all issues pertaining to man-made ionising radiation (DU high on the list.) It relates to the UK but also elsewhere in the world and is to operate on the lines of the excellent Downwinders site/discussion in the US. Requested information to be posted/collated includes legislation, hearings, licensing hearings, campaigns, personal testimonies, conferences and apt scientific and parliamentary references. This is a timely addition to the DU/radiation debate especially as DU is now being incorporated into building structures, roads and a frying pan near you. To subscribe: http://www.egroups.com/group/rad-UK and click subscribe. tel: +44 (0)20 7403 5200 fax: +44 (0)20 7403 3823 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: www.mariamappeal.com
