Thread: Archive Latest News - Think Tank - 01/01/08 - 14/04/08

Talabani and Barzani Hold Press Conference

Today, following the joint meeting between Presidents Jalal Talabani and Massud Barzani in Erbil, they spoke to the reporters in a press conference.

President Barzani described Talabani’s recent visit to Turkey as “valuable and positive”. “The visit opens a gate to make very positive relations between Iraq and Turkey, and it paves the way to make relations between Kurdistan region and Turkey.”

“The conference was a victory for Iraq in general and the Kurdish people in particular”, Barzani said as he referred to the recent Arab Parliamentary Union conference in Erbil.

“The Arab state delegates did not expect that there are such opportunities for investment in the Kurdish region. Most of the delegates are expected to return to Kurdistan and start to invest here.”

“I think Mr. Erdogan already answered your question, ‘saying that why we should have talks with foreigners and strangers, why we should not have talks with our brothers and relatives’,” president Talabani said in reply to a question regarding the expected Turkish delegation to Iraq. Later president Talabani, on behalf of Barzani though, expressed condolence to the families of the victims in Hallabja, affirming that the government is exerting all its efforts to better serve the people of Hallabja.

“The issue of article 140 is discussed in every meeting. I think the relevant committee to implement article 140 was doing lots of positive things. We are trying our best to implement it,” Barzani said regarding the latest development to implement article 140.

PUKmedia :: English - Talabani and Barzani Hold Press Conference

Political forces' second Conference on Tuesday

Official spokesperson of the Iraqi government said on Saturday that the second National Conference of Iraqi Political Forces, to last two days, will be held in Baghdad on Tuesday, March 18, 2008.

Dr. Ali Al-Dabbagh explained in a press release received by Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI), "This conference, sponsored by the premier, will be held under the slogan 'Together for the unity of political forces, to achieve security, rebuilding, and to complete sovereignty,' and will be attended by different political figures."

He added, "The conference aims to activate the role of different forces in the political process, for the sake of positive participation in the national reconciliation and building Iraq, and the participation in the political life and supporting the governmental efforts in the field of security, in addition to completing sovereignty, rebuilding, and establishing the state of law and institutions through their participation and expected role in elections, to expand those forces' representation."

Al-Dabbagh referred that the government perceives "political participation as an equal right of all citizens and any political group, through the participation in an active democratic system, and any party or component cannot dominate the political situation."

The first National Dialogue Conference was held on December 17, 2006, with the participation of figures from inside and outside (not many) the political process, and conclude in forming four follow up committees of political balancing and participation widening, federalism issue study, the mechanisms for constitutional amendments, and dissolved entities' committee.

Aswat Aliraq

Jay Garner Visits Speaker of Kurdistan Region Parliament

Today a US delegation headed by Jay Garner, the former Director of the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Iraq, visited and met with the speaker of Kurdistan region parliament Adnan Mufti in Erbil.

In the meeting, which was attended by a number of US investors and representatives of the US companies, the situation of Kurdistan region, petroleum and investment laws were discussed.

Mufti hoped that the tensions related to these laws between Kurdistan region and Baghdad to be addressed according to the Iraqi permanent constitution.

PUKmedia :: English - Jay Garner Visits Speaker of Kurdistan Region Parliament

Chemical Ali to hang Sunday on Halabja's 20th anniversary

The Halabja Victims Society had information that Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as Chemical Ali, would be executed on Sunday on the 20th anniversary of the 1988 Halabja massacre that claimed the lives of thousands of Kurdish civilians, the society's vice chairman said on Saturday.

"The society is in possession of information that Majid's execution would take place tomorrow coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the Halabja massacre," Aras Abdullah told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).
On February 29 the Iraqi presidential council ratified the death sentence handed down against Majid, the former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's cousin.

In June 2007, death sentences were handed down by the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Court against Majid, Sultan Hashim Ahmed, former Iraqi defense minister, and Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, assistant chief of staff of the former Iraqi army, after they were found guilty of genocide of ethnic Iraqi Kurds in a case widely known as the Anfal campaign case.

Saber Abdul-Aziz al-Dori, director of the former military intelligence, and Farhan Motlak al-Juburi, chief of the former intelligence in the Northern Zone, received life sentences.

Former Mosul Governor Taher Tawfiq al-Aani was acquitted.
Anfal (or Spoils of War, taken from Surat al-Anfal in the Qur'an) was an anti-Kurdish campaign led by the former regime between 1986 and 1989 and involved a series of military campaigns against the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters as well as the mostly Kurdish civilian population of southern Kurdistan.

Talabani and Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi declined to endorse the execution of Sultan Hashim Ahmed, causing heated controversy in Iraq's political and legal circles as views varied about the actual need for a republican decree in order for the government to apply death sentences.

Independent sources estimate there were 50,000 to more than 100,000 deaths in the campaign, in which chemical weapons were used, while Kurds claim about 182,000 people were killed.

Charges against the prime defendant Saddam Hussein were dropped after his execution on December 30, 2006, four days after an appellate body upheld a death sentence by a court considering the case of al-Dujail, a small town in northern Baghdad.

The court had found Saddam and a number of his aides guilty of responsibility for the killing of 148 people following an attempt on Saddam's life in 1982, during the eight-year Iraq-Iran war.

On April 2, 2007 the chief prosecutor in the Anfal case urged the court to release al-Aani, extenuate a sentence for Dori and to hand down death sentences against the four others.


Aswat Aliraq

Update.......

Iraq oil refinery expands by 10K barrels

A Najaf oil refinery expanded its production capacity Saturday by about 10,000 barrels per day, or roughly half of what it had producing.

The refinery, about 100 miles south of Baghdad, was built in October 2006 to help meet central Iraq's increasing demand for petroleum products, including kerosene. It had been producing about 20,000 barrels per day.

Hussein al-Shahristani, Iraq's oil minister, pledged further expansions across the country, including new refineries in Nasiriyah, about 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, and Karbala, about 50 miles south of Baghdad.

Iraq has the world's third-largest known crude oil reserves, with an estimated 115 billion barrels. Together, the new refineries will be able to refine more than 450,000 barrels daily.

Iraq's government is working to shore up lagging production caused by infrastructure that has been damaged or destroyed since the war began in 2003. Insurgents frequently attack pipelines, trying to rob the government of oil revenue.

The nation's three main refineries are now running at roughly half the 700,000-barrel daily capacity they maintained before the war.

The shortfall has forced Iraq to turn to imports from neighboring Iran, Kuwait and Turkey.

Iraqi lawmakers are considering an oil law to divide the country's oil and gas profits among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds — a benchmark sought by the United States to achieve national reconciliation.

Iraq oil refinery expands by 10K barrels - Yahoo! News

Could Basra be a separate federal region?

Could Basra be a separate federal region? This question was discussed by a group of politicians and tribal figures in a forum that is part of a continuous debate in Iraq aimed to introduce the principle of federalism and stress its importance in Iraqi Provinces.

Could Basra be a separate federal region? | Iraq News | Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network

Update......

Norwegian Oil Company DNO revises agreement with Kurdish Authorities

Norwegian Oil Company DNO International said Friday it had revised an agreement with Kurdish authorities on splitting oil production in two licensing areas in northern Iraq.

After revising the contract, the Dohok bloc was split in two parts, with DNO one concerning Tawke oil field that produces oil currently, and the second tackles the remaining Dohok area.

After the revision, DNO holds three production sharing contracts in the Kurdistan region of north Iraq, the Tawke PSC with a working interest of 55 percent, Dohok PSC with an interest of 40 percent and the Erbil PSC with an interest of 40 percent, the company said.

The Norwegian company also said it was "encouraged" by initial test production in a new production field in Kurdistan which reinforced its shares price.

Norwegian Oil Company DNO revises agreement with Kurdish Authorities | Economics News | Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network

Karbala’ Roads and Bridges Directorate implements a project with a value of 803 million dinars

Karbala’ Roads and Bridges Directorate started works in one of important countryside roads Al Hussainiah direction, north of Karbala’ with a value of 803 million dinars. Implementation period is supposed to take 8 months.

A source in the Directorate said that the local companies started implementing works in a countryside road in Tamim region in the framework of Provinces Development Projects for 2008.

Karbala’ Roads and Bridges Directorate implements a project with a value of 803 million dinars | Economics News | Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network

OPEC: Oil is abundant in market

OPEC announced that it produces a quantity of oil that exceeds the needs of its agents and that probable US economic stagnation might lower demand on oil. OPEC’s report noted that primary indicators note that oil is abundant in the market. While crude oil prices increase in the world market to a rate of 110 $ a barrel, Iraqi citizen sees that prices surge affects negatively his living status.

OPEC: Oil is abundant in market | Economics News | Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network

President Talabani Returns to Baghdad

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani returned to Baghdad today after finishing his visit to Kurdistan Region capital. He was bidden farewell by Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani and his deputy Kosrat Rasul Ali, Kurdistan Region PM Nechirvan Barzani, the Region’s government ministers and a number of PUK and KDP politburos members.
Before he left Erbil city, President Talabani discussed the situation in Iraq with the American retired General Jay Garner.

It’s worth mentioning that President Talabani visited Erbil to open the Arab Parliamentarian Union Conference for the period 11-13/3/2008.

PUKmedia :: English - President Talabani Returns to Baghdad