King Abdullah sends back the Jordanian charge de affairs to Iraq
Jordan-Iraq, Politics, 3/23/2005

The Jordanian King Abdullah II ordered the return back of the Jordanian diplomatic mission from Iraq amid expectations of the return back of the Iraqi ambassador to Amman.

The Jordanian prime minister Faisal al-Fayez said after his meeting in Algeria with the Iraqi president Ghazi Elyawer, whose term of office expired on Monday, that the King asked the Jordanian charge de affairs in Iraq, Dimai Haddad, to return back to his work place in Baghdad after the elimination of tension between the two states.

The two states had exchanged the withdrawal of their two envoys last Sunday because of acts of violence blamed on a Jordanian who had carried out a suicide explosion in a people's market in al-Hella city to the south of Baghdad that resulted in killing 130 persons. This was considered the largest attack Iraq witnessed since the end of its invasion led by the USA.

Al-Fayez said he explained to the Iraqi President that "terrorism has no nationality and that Jordan condemns terrorist operations and would not accept any Jordanian to carry out an operation of this sort." He said that the reason of tension between the two states is because of a false news issued in a Jordanian paper, in remarks to a news issued by al-Ghad paper on the Internet, that alleged that the executor of the suicide operation in al-Hella is a Jordanian and his name is Raed al-Banna.

Al- Fayez added that the Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zeibari confirmed to him upon summoning the Iraqi ambassador from Amman that Iraq is for consultation and does not want to sever relations.

Upon his arrival in Algeria on Monday, the Iraqi president announced in a press conference that there is no crisis with Jordan.

For his part, the Jordanian foreign minister Hani al-Malqi said that the Jordanian charge de affairs returns to the embassy in Baghdad today, Wednesday. Al-Malqi said that he had met with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zeibari in Algeria on Monday on the convening of the Arab League and that he had received confirmations on protecting the Jordanian embassy and its employees in Baghdad.

These diplomatic steps were preceded by a wave of violence and demonstrations that took place in Iraqi cities and governorates. The demonstrators burnt Jordanian flags and broke into the embassy which has been firmly attacked twice since the al-hella inceident on February 28 after they were angered by reports said that one Jordanian had blown up the explosion and his family's celebration of his death as a martyr.

The spokeswoman for the Jordanian government Asma al-Khuder said that Jordan has always hosted the Iraqis of all Shiite and Sunni sects and taken all steps in support of Iraq's efforts to restore back its policy and security. The Jordanian embassy was a target for two suicide attacks since the invasion of Iraq led by the USA in 2003.

Previous Stories:
  Iraqi- Jordanian diplomatic crisis   (3/21/2005)
  UN refugee agency gets food, relief aid to Kurds stranded at Iraq-Jordan border   (2/14/2005)
  Normalization opposition in Jordan are against supplies to the Americans in Iraq   (1/5/2005)

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