Arabic News Weekly Edition for Iraq, 4/20/1998
Weekly Edition, Iraq - Week of April 20, 1998
- Kurdish peace process continues
Efforts to reach a final peace agreement in Kurdistan region of Iraq have been continuing. Delegates from both the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, met on April 23 in Shaqlaw. Iraq, Politics, 4/25/1998 - Syria denies free zone for commodity exchange with Iraq
Syrian economic sources denied news reports quoted from Baghdad that a commodity free exchange zone will be opened next Tuesday in al-Qayem city on the Syrian - Iraqi borders on the occasion of the 61st birthday of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Syria-Iraq, Economics, 4/24/1998 - Iraq: Lifting UN sanctions is a legitimate right
Iraqi Trade Minister Muhammad Mahdi Saleh on Thursday said Iraq has signed contracts to import foodstuffs from Iran and is preparing to sign similar contracts with Saudi Arabia according to the oil-for-food accord. Iraq-UN, International, 4/24/1998 - Baghdad and Damascus to form a free trade area
An Iraqi newspaper in Baghdad announced yesterday that Iraq will inaugurate a free zone for exchanging goods on the Syrian - Iraqi borders on Tuesday in the region of El-Kaem. Iraq-Syria, Economics, 4/24/1998 - Iraq welcomes OPEC output cut Iraq-Regional, Economics, 4/24/1998
- US opposes lifting of Iraq sanctions
White House spokesman Mike McCurry said, "We have seen insufficient grounds to lift all of the UN Security Council Resolution 687 sanctions that are in place. There needs to be further compliance by the government of Iraq with a whole host of post-Gulf War requirements that have been placed upon Iraq by the international community." Iraq-USA, Politics, 4/24/1998 - Princess Fatima bint Mubarak aid Iraqi children
Princess Fatma bint Mubark, wife of United Arab Emirates President Shiekh Zayed al-Nahyan, received a delegation representing Iraqi children, and she listened to an explanation of the Iraqi children's suffering due to a lack of food and medicines within the sanctions imposed upon Iraq. United Arab Emirates-Iraq, People, 4/24/1998 - UN - oil-for-food Iraq-UN, Economics, 4/23/1998
- Iraq - Butler Iraq-UN, Politics, 4/23/1998
- Iraq accuses Kuwait of using war prisoner's issue for politics
Iraq asserted that it has released all Kuwaiti prisoners since the end of the Gulf War, adding that Kuwait uses the question of the Kuwaitis who are still missing from the war for political purposes. Iraq-Kuwait, Politics, 4/23/1998 - Shiite clegryman's killing in Iraq angers Iran
Relations between Iraq and Iran have undergone recent improvements, characterized by exchanges of POW's held captive since the 1980-88 was between the two states. Iraq-Iran, Politics, 4/23/1998 - British Labor party member for changing Western attitude on Iraq
Member of the ruling British labor party in the British House of Commons George Galloway on Wednesday called for changing the current Western policy towards Iraq. Iraq-UK, International, 4/23/1998 - Iraq for open or secret dialogue with Washington
Iraqi Vice-President Tariq Aziz reiterated Iraq's call for the US to maintain direct contacts with Iraq instead of trying to create a new crisis between Iraq and the UN. Iraq-USA, Politics, 4/22/1998 - Palestinian airplane carrying aid to Iraq
Sohar Arafat, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's wife, said she will send another airplane soon to Iraq and that she will be on board. Palestine-Iraq, Economics, 4/22/1998 - US accuses Iraq of lying, no announcements on peace initiative
Rubin said, "they continue to lie and hide the truth regarding the existence of long-range ballistic missiles, VX and serin chemical weapons and anthrax and other biological weapons" Iraq-Regional-USA, Politics, 4/21/1998 - Iraq releases 641 Egyptian prisoners
There is a contradiction in figures concerning the number of released citizens, as the Iraqi minister of labor stated that Iraq has released 614 persons, while Egypt declares that 585 of the prisoners have been freed. Iraq-Egypt, Judicial, 4/21/1998 - Iraq holds collective funeral for children Iraq, Politics, 4/21/1998
- Egypt's participates in international labor conference for solidarity with Iraq
Mohammed Moussa, the secretary general of the union, has said the delegation includes 54 members representing public labor syndicates. The delegation will provide aid -- medicines and food -- to Iraqi children and laborers. Egypt-Iraq, Politics, 4/21/1998 - EU - oil-for-food Iraq-European Union, International, 4/21/1998
- Iraqi-Iranian officials meet on prisoners, suspended issues Iraq-Iran, Politics, 4/21/1998
- UAE's medicine for Iraq United Arab Emirates-Iraq, Economics, 4/21/1998
- Kuwait's Sadoon says Iraq has more captives
El-Sadoon accused the Iraqi government of misstating facts concerning the release of the Kuwaiti captives, pointing out that Kuwait is not denying the fact that it received a number of captives, but there remains more captives in Iraqi prisons that number more than 600 captives Kuwait-Iraq, Politics, 4/20/1998 - Iraq's FM meets Moussa, pleads for Arab help to lift sanctions
Sahaf said that Iraq's understanding is that the inspections of the presidential sites should be carried out expeditiously, and this means that there is not endless time for the committee to finish its work. Iraq-Egypt, Politics, 4/20/1998 - Egypt for lifting UN sanctions imposed on Iraq
Richard Buttler, UN's head of the weapons inspection team in Iraq, accused Iraq of not providing relevant information that would account to supposed missing biological material, that Iraq claimed was destroyed Iraq-Egypt-UN, Politics, 4/20/1998 - Smuggled Iraqi kurds in Greece Iraq-Greece, Judicial, 4/20/1998