Russian envoy visits Iraq to discuss sanctions, Pope to visit too?

The Russian embassy in Damascus on Wednesday said that Russian special envoy Victor Posovaluke will visit Iraq within the next few days to discuss Iraq's implementation of UN resolutions and means of lifting the UN sanctions imposed on this country.

Meantime UNSCOM chairman Richard Butler is expected to arrive in Baghdad today. Diplomats expected Butler's mission in Iraq to be "difficult." However, in the course of efforts exerted to lift sanctions imposed on Iraq, the Russian ambassador in Damascus said that Posovaluke will visit Baghdad in completion of "our efforts to settle the Iraqi question in the course of the Russian foreign policy which aims at playing greater role in the Middle East region and to take part in the process of establishing stability in the region.

In Baghdad, the Iraqis expressed great satisfaction over the possible visit of Pope John Paul II in 1999 to the city of Or, the birthplace of Ibrahim al-Khalil, in the southern part of the country. French Cardinal Roger Etchighari, who is taking part in a Christian conference organized by the Caldanic church in Iraq, stressed the Pope's "strong desire" to hold such a visit, which would help peace in the Middle East.

The cardinal added that the visit is not certain yet, noting the Pope's adherence to Christian minorities in the east, especially the Caldans, who number 600,000 in Iraq, representing 3% of the population total number. Some 130 men of religion and secular people came from around 30 countries to take part in the Baghdad religious conference that concluded deliberations on Wednesday. It is the third of its kind since 1990.