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17-04-2007, 04:51 PM #681
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17-04-2007, 04:52 PM #682
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More Iraqis Go North, Fleeing Violence
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Posted GMT 4-17-2007 14:37:55
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ARBIL, IRAQ -- Uthman Hassan is relieved to live in a city where his first name won't get him killed.
He's a Sunni named after an early Islamic Caliph, Uthman ibn Affan, who is revered by Sunnis and disputed by Shiites. It's an identity that could spell death in Baghdad, where religious fault lines continue to divide the city.
Mr. Hassan fled the capital after his older brother, Umar, also named after an early Sunni Muslim leader, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen. Hassan suspects that his brother was the victim of Shiite militants and was murdered for having the wrong name.
"Everyday I left the house I made sure to say goodbye to my family," he says. "Going to the grocery store, meeting a friend, the fear something bad might happen never went away."
Since moving to Arbil in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq three months ago to start work at a new downtown motel, Hassan's constant anxiety has been replaced by the smile that he flashes to guests, many of whom also come from points south to find peace.
Some 1.9 million Iraqis have been displaced within the country since the 2003 US-led invasion, according to United Nations figures, with as many as 2.7 million expected by the end of this year. In Arbil alone, the Iraqi Red Crescent has registered more than 5,000 families -- or approximately 30,000 people -- as refugees in the past two years.
The crisis of Iraqi refugees -- both fleeing to neighboring countries and within their homeland -- is the subject of a two-day United Nations conference in Geneva starting Tuesday. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has requested $60 million for humanitarian operations, but maintains that this is just a fraction of what is needed. Spokesman Ron Redmond says the conference is not a pledging event; rather, it's an effort to raise awareness at the international level of how grave the situation really is.
"Those who have fled are becoming increasingly desperate as they and their host communities run out of resources," Mr. Redmond says. "We hope to hear commitments on all of these aspects [at the conference] because the international community needs to focus collectively on a whole range of humanitarian needs."
Most of the estimated 2 million Iraqis who have fled to neighboring countries have settled in Jordan or Syria. The UNHCR has attempted to resettle many of the registered Iraqi refugees, but found host countries for only 404 worldwide in the first nine months of 2006.
The trouble in getting into Arbil
The Arbil-based Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which was granted autonomy to administer three Kurdish-majority provinces in the north, sees itself as a model of stability and says its borders are open to Iraqis.
"This is their home and all are welcome," says police chief Abdullah Khaylani. "You must respect anyone who is coming to you and needs help. These people are suffering."
But the price for peace is a vigilant security apparatus, reinforced by broad popular support and strict preconditions: Those wishing to enter must have a Kurdish sponsor; entrants pass through a series of security checkpoints on arrival, after which they must go directly to the Directorate of Residence to register. Personal files are kept and updated, as emigres return and report their employment and living status.
Arab Iraqis who have "a profession or the funds to be economically viable in the north have the easiest time entering into the region," says Dana Graber, internally displaced people monitoring officer for the International Organization for Migration. "Otherwise, it is very difficult for Arab Iraqis to enter," he adds, though he expects an influx of refugees to continue to head north as instability deepens elsewhere.
Hassan and his best friend, Abbas Khafaji, another Arab Iraqi refugee from Baghdad, feel indebted to Salim Agrawe, the Kurdish co-owner of the Milano Motel, for offering them a job before they left Baghdad. They say he has treated them like sons without regard to their Arab identity; Salim insists the privilege is his own. But the tight restrictions in the Kurdish north often lead to other Arab Iraqis who have emigrated being treated as second-class citizens.
Hana lives in a decrepit apartment complex, a 10-minute drive from the Milano Motel, with two other women from the south. She fled Baghdad eight months ago to get away from a radical husband who, she says, was "very active" in the insurgency.
She made it to Sulaymaniyah, the second-largest city in the Kurdish region, where a woman's organization found her a job, and she soon moved to Arbil.
Here, Hana found "another kind of suffering," says the friend who took her in, Vian al-Khaledi, a women's activist of Kurdish-Arab background who also left Baghdad last year after seven neighbors were executed in the same evening. Ms. Khaledi described the frustrations of many women who have come looking for a fresh start.
Often, those who must make a living are subject to abuse in exchange for low-paying work, including make-or-break demands for sexual favors, she says. Without a steady job, she adds, they may be expelled. "We are Iraqis and yet we need permission to stay.... We are strangers, here in our own country," she says.
Mr. Graber says reports compiled by his organization suggest that Arab Iraqis in general have a "much more difficult time entering and settling [in the north]." He notes that non-Kurds are officially prohibited from purchasing property and go without financial assistance from the KRG, with one exception: Christian families receive a cash grant from the Ministry of Finance, which is headed by a Christian minister.
Fears Baghdadis will bring violence
Some Kurds say they sympathize with the plight of Arab Iraqis but fear that as more arrive, crime and violence may follow.
"We have no problem with Arabs," says Salar Sabr, a construction contractor who says many Arab emigres on his payroll do good work. But he worries that continued emigration could spell long-term trouble for his people and their relentless hope for an independent state.
Indeed, violence has been moving further north in Iraq. Last week, a suicide bomber detonated a truck full of explosives in a largely Kurdish neighborhood of Kirkuk, killing at least 15 people and wounding at least 200 others, according to Iraqi police. This came after a series of bombings on March 19 claimed 26 lives. The latest attack appeared to be in response to a plan to relocate Arabs from the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Observers say this may be a sign of worse events to come.
Back in Arbil, Khaledi says she is ready to return home to Baghdad the moment conditions improve. Asked if she might travel to Jordan or Syria as masses of other Arab Iraqis have, she exchanges glances with a friend and the two collectively shake their heads.
Where, then? "Another planet," Khaledi says.
By Jason Motlagh
Christian Science Monitor
© 2007, Assyrian International News Agency
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17-04-2007, 04:54 PM #683
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Iraq's neighbours blocking refugees -- rights group
Tue 17 Apr 2007 9:38 AM ET
GENEVA, April 17 (Reuters) - Iraq's neighbours are making it harder and harder for Iraqis to flee across the border to escape violence, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday.
Jordan and Egypt, which are already home to over 800,000 refugees, have imposed new entry restrictions, while Saudi Arabia is building a $7 billion border barrier and Kuwait simply refuses all asylum requests, the U.S.-based advocacy group said.
"Jordan and Egypt have pretty much closed their doors to Iraqi refugees, while Syria is shutting out Palestinians trying to flee Iraq," Bill Frelick, the group's refugee policy director, said in a statement.
HRW, which was refused visas for Syria to investigate the situation there, urged a U.N. conference on the refugee crisis that began in Geneva on Tuesday to address the issue of asylum.
"The conference shouldn't only focus on assisting Iraqis who've managed to escape, but should seek to uphold the right to flee to safety," Frelick said.
The statement echoed similar concerns expressed by Amnesty International.
Amnesty said refugees had told its fact-finding team in Jordan last month that Iraqis had been forced home from Jordan, including six or seven Iraqi Shi'ites deported last December.
"In Iraq, their vehicle was reportedly forced to stop near (the western city of) Ramadi by (Sunni Muslim) insurgents, who then beheaded all but one of the occupants," Amnesty said.
Some 4 million Iraqis are already refugees, both inside and outside their homeland. The United Nations estimates that 50,000 a month are fleeing mounting sectarian violence.
Human Rights Watch said responsibility for those fleeing Iraq did not rest exclusively with its neighbours, and that the United States, which led the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and its main military ally Britain must help more.
"They undertook a war that has directly caused thousands of deaths, widespread fear and suffering, and forced displacement. This precipitated a sectarian conflict that has caused additional violence, persecution, and displacement on a massive scale," Frelick said.
Although Washington had "belatedly" agreed to take up to 7,000 Iraqi refugees, this was not adequate, HRW said, while Britain had not pledged to take any.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved
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17-04-2007, 04:54 PM #684
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17-04-2007, 04:55 PM #685
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Iraq will not be on the right trackuntil Iraqis run their own show
17 April 2007
Editorial
With only slightly less than a year under his belt as Iraq's premier, Nuri al-Maliki has already contended with more difficulties than most politicians have to deal with in their entire careers. His latest challenge was the resignation on Monday of Iraqi Shiite ministers loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr - a move that opened up a new rift in his fractious parliamentary alliance. The Sadr Movement's bloc said it quit the Cabinet after the government had ignored the public's demands for a timetable for a withdrawal of US and other coalition troops. The resignations do not seem likely to bring down Maliki's government, but nor will the domestic pressure on Maliki for a change in Iraq's relationship with its US mentors go away.
The demand for a timetable for a coalition pullout is not unique to Sadrists: It is in fact shared by a solid majority of Iraqi, American and British citizens, according to recent opinion polls. But surely the members of the global chorus for withdrawal do not wish to see Iraq plunge even deeper into violence, as would no doubt happen if the US were to retreat in a disorderly fashion. Rather, the calls for withdrawal are symptomatic of a greater concern: Iraqis, Americans and others want Iraq to belong to the Iraqi people. They want Iraqis to assume more responsibility for their own security and they want to decrease foreign involvement in Iraqi affairs. These objectives, unlike the haphazard calls for withdrawal, represent an important and worthwhile concern for Iraq's sovereignty.
The United States supposedly "returned sovereignty" to Iraq during an official ceremony in June 2004. But that event, much like President George W. Bush's famous "mission accomplished" photo opportunity, was little more than a PR stunt, because the US has since then maintained its stranglehold on the Iraqi political, economic and military spheres. This fact has been aptly illustrated on the rare occasions that Maliki has showed a modicum of spine in his dealings with US officials. Take, for example, Maliki's visit to Washington last July, when the Iraqi premier was attacked by US legislators - Republics and Democrats alike - for airing his concerns about Israel's relentless military assault on Lebanon that summer. When Maliki questioned Israel's attacks on civilian targets in Lebanon and the destruction of the country's infrastructure, Senator Chuck Schumer responded by asking "which side is he on in the 'war on terror?'" Senator Howard Dean, who is apparently unaware of the fact that Israelis and Arabs share the same linguistic and ethnic heritage, went so far as to call Maliki an "anti-Semite." The reactions of US congressmen were telling: American leaders were appalled by the notion of the Iraqi premier having ideas that contradicted their own.
If the Americans and Iraqis have different views on Lebanon, surely they diverge on issues related to Iraq. And if Iraq is to have any hope of success, the Americans will have to stop treating Maliki like a puppet premier and let him start setting the Iraqi agenda. The only long-term hope for Iraq is if Iraqis are in command of their own policies and setting their own priorities.
Article originally published by The Daily Star 17-Apr-07
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17-04-2007, 04:56 PM #686
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Iraq to study prospected exportation of gas to Kuwait
By Ahmad Hajjaji
KUWAIT, April 16 (KUNA) -- Kuwait and the neighboring state of Iraq agreed on Monday to conduct studies for exportation of Iraqi gas to Kuwait in the future.
Oil Undersecretary Abbas Naqi said, in an exclusive statement to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), that an agreement was reached in this regard during a meeting today of the Kuwaiti-Iraqi Supreme Technical Committee.
Naqi told KUNA that the Iraqi side agreed in principle on the exportation of the gas to Kuwait, but indicated that relevant authorities in the two countries would first conduct necessary studies in this respect.
He added the gas exportation topped the committee talks pointing out that another session would be held in the next three months to discuss the result of the gas exportation studies.
The joint commission, formed in 2003, held its first meeting in January 2004.
Article originally published by KUNA (Kuwait News Agency) 16-Apr-07
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17-04-2007, 04:59 PM #687
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Kuwaiti-Iraqi Supreme Technical Committee to meet on Monday
(with photos)
KUWAIT, April 15 (KUNA) -- The Kuwaiti-Iraqi Supreme Technical Committee launches its 7th meeting on Monday in Kuwait, with the aim of discussing several issues dealing with boosting oil relations between the two countries.
A press statement issued by the Ministry of Oil on Sunday said that the two-day meeting will be headed by the Ministry Undersecretary Abbas Ali Naqi, and includes the participation of Kuwait Oil Company's Chairman and Managing Director Farouq Al-Zinki, Kuwait National Petroleum Company's Chairman and Managing Director Sami Al-Rishaid and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company's Chairman and Managing Director Bader Al-Khashti.
The meeting will also include the participation of Managing Director for Foreign Marketing in the Kuwait Petroleum Company Jamal Al-Nouri, Ministry of Oil's Assistant Undersecretary for technical affairs Ali Bin Sabt, KPC's Deputy Managing Director for Planning Nabeel Bourosli, and the Ministry of Oil's Head of Planning and International Relations Ahmad Al-Sairafi.
The statement said the Iraqi side will be headed by the General Director of South Oil Company Jabar Al-Luaibi, and his accompanying delegation of top ranking oil officials in Iraq.
The statement concluded that the Kuwaiti-Iraqi committee was established in 2003 to discuss joint oil issues.
Article originally published by KUNA (Kuwait News Agency) 15-Apr-07
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17-04-2007, 05:05 PM #688
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Iraq PM says govt not weakened by Sadr pullout
(Reuters)
17 April 2007
BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Tuesday the withdrawal of ministers loyal to Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr had not weakened his government and he would name technocrats to replace them soon.
In the biggest cabinet shakeup since Maliki took office a year ago, six Sadrist ministers pulled out of the government on Monday in protest at his refusal to set a timetable for a US troop withdrawal, a demand of the anti-American cleric.
“The withdrawal does not mean the government is witnessing weakness,” Maliki told reporters after a regular cabinet session in his first public remarks on the walkout.
Maliki said the appointment of technocrats would help the government “escape from (sectarian) quotas and also helps in choosing ministers who are professionals and politicians”.
Maliki’s administration is dominated by sectarian parties drawn from the country’s Shi’ite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish groups.
Iraqis have long complained that the sectarian makeup of the national unity government has hindered Maliki, forcing him to tread carefully to keep his various constituencies happy, and turned ministries into personal fiefdoms of political blocs.
Analysts had said they did not expect the walkout to affect the day-to-day performance of Maliki’s government since the ministers did not hold any key portfolios, but it could increase pressure on him to draw up a troop withdrawal timetable, a demand of many Iraqis four years after the US-led invasion.
The Sadrists, who form the single biggest parliamentary bloc in the ruling Shi’ite Alliance, called on Maliki to appoint non-partisan independents, a move the prime minister welcomed.
“In the near future, the names of the ministers will be announced ... from the independents, technocrats and those who believe in a new Iraq,” Maliki said.
Speaking to reporters in the Jordanian capital Amman, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates suggested Maliki may now be able to bring in replacements who could improve relations between Iraq’s deeply divided communities.
“The impact that ... these resignations have will depend in some measure on who is selected to replace these ministers and their capabilities and whether those vacancies are used in a way that perhaps can further advance the reconciliation process.”
Washington constantly presses Iraq’s leaders to speed up reconciliation between majority Shi’ites and minority Sunni Arabs who were dominant under Saddam Hussein and form the backbone of the insurgency against US troops and Maliki’s government.
Senior Shi’ite lawmaker Haider al-Ibadi said earlier that Maliki would present the candidates for the posts, which include the health and transport ministries, to parliament by next week.
Analysts are divided on the implications of Sadr’s pullout from the government but agree the biggest concern is whether Sadr, by distancing himself from the government, will feel less constrained to rein in his feared Mehdi Army militia.
The Mehdi Army has largely kept a low profile during a major US-Iraqi crackdown in the capital, but there are fears it may take to the streets again to retaliate against a recent surge in bombings blamed on Sunni Islamist al Qaeda.
Maliki reiterated on Monday that US troops would leave Iraq only when Iraqi forces were ready to take over security. British forces in southern Iraq will hand over the fourth of Iraq’s 18 provinces to Iraqi security forces on Wednesday. Maysan has been largely spared from Iraq’s sectarian violence.
In Geneva, the United Nations’ refugee agency on Tuesday appealed for international aid for nearly 4 million Iraqis driven from their homes by the violence, and for those sheltering them inside and outside Iraq.
Although the gathering is not a donor conference, U.N. officials hope it will put pressure on Western states to provide more financial help and take more Iraqi asylum-seekers.
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17-04-2007, 05:09 PM #689
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17-04-2007, 05:11 PM #690
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Translated version of http://www.alsabaah.com/
Top of economic page.Last edited by Adster; 17-04-2007 at 05:13 PM.
Zubaidi:Monetary value of the Iraqi dinar must revert to the previous level, or at least to acceptable levels as it is in the Iraqi neighboring states.
Shabibi:The bank wants as a means to affect the economic and monetary policy by making the dinar a valuable and powerful.
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