Vanguards of the Japanese forces arrive in southern Iraq; A meeting in New York, demonstration in Baghdad over elections
Meetings dedicated to discuss the return back of the UN to Iraq and its contribution to the plans of transferring authority to the Iraqis started at the headquarters of the UN in New York.
The UN secretary general Kofi Annan started these meeting by a close door meeting with the delegation of the Iraqi provisional governing council led by the chairman of the council Adnan al-Baja Je. He also met with a delegation representing the occupation authority in Iraq. The separate meetings will be followed by a meeting bringing together the two delegations with Annan.
Washington, in particular, seeks to convince Annan to interfere in the issue of the rejection, of the supreme Shiite reference Ayatullah al-Auzma Ali al-Seisatni, to the American plans to transfer authorities to the Iraqis. The plans include appointing a provisional national council by the fall of may 2004. Al-Seistani however is calling for elections for choosing members of this provisional council. A massive demonstration took the streets of Baghdad, in which the participants stressed that any coming Iraqi government will only acquire its legitimacy through elections.
Meantime, vanguards of the Japanese forces entered southern Iraq via the Kuwaiti borders heading to al Samawa city, in order to start what is described the most dangerous mission of the Japanese self defense forces abroad since the second world war.
The force includes 39 soldiers who will evaluate the security situation, in preparation to deploy some 1000 Japanese soldiers to contribute to rebuilding and provide humanitarian services for the Iraqis. The soldiers were positioned in a camp for the American forces in Kuwait, and they then headed to Iraq in armored vehicle procession.
Meantime, one American soldier died yesterday because of wounds he had received from an explosive near Sameraa city last Friday.
Two soldiers were also killed in a booby trapped car on Sunday at the headquarters of the occupation authority which resulted in killing 25 Iraqis including two policemen. Their funerals were held yesterday in Baghdad.
The Iraqi police official who attended the funeral vowed to find the executors of the operation which also resulted in wounding scores of Iraqis.
In another development, unidentified persons assassinated Abdul Latif al-Mayah, the chairman of the "Arab homeland research and studies center" at al-Mustensereyah university. He is known for his political independence and academic manner in defending al-Seistani proposals pertaining to carrying out general elections to form the legislative national council in Iraq.