Dec 26, 2002 News

December 26, 2002 News http://www.aljazeerah.info

Khaleej Times, 12/26/02

WASHINGTON - US Senator Joseph Lieberman, visiting US troops in the Gulf, on Thursday said he was confident the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain would support the United States if it waged war against Iraq. Lieberman, a Democratic from Connecticut who is contemplating a run for the presidency in 2004, said he had met with several Gulf leaders during his visit to the region, and was encouraged by their responses.

"In addition to saying thank you to the American military here in the Gulf, my main purpose has been to say to the leaders of the Gulf nations that I've visited, if we need to go to war in Iraq, we need your help," Lieberman told CNN in an interview broadcast from Qatar. "The answer I got was encouraging, though not yet explicit," he said. "But when the time comes, I'm confident that we're going to have the support we need from the Saudis, the Qataris and the Bahrainis as well."

Lieberman said US President George W. Bush had been "surprisingly patient" in watching implementation of UN resolutions, which call for Iraq to stop developing weapons of mass destruction or face possible military attack. Iraq denies it has such arms. "We're coming to a point where the United States has got to give some of the evidence that we have over to the United Nations and perhaps begin to talk about it a bit more publicly," Lieberman said.

He said he was convinced by several classified briefings this fall and winter, as well as information made public by the United Nations in 1998, that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein still possessed weapons of mass destruction. He said he expected the United States to begin pressing within "a matter of weeks" for Iraq to admit that it had such weapons. "You can only be so patient, and then you reach a point where you've got to reach a decision and I don't think we've reached that point yet," Lieberman told CNN.

He said he planned to decide by mid-January whether to run for president in 2004. Lieberman was Al Gore's vice presidential candidate in the 2000 presidential race. - Reuters

Nine Palestinians killed, scores injured and arrested by Israeli occupation forces

Khaleej Times, aljazeera.net, 12/26/02

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Nine Palestinians were killed by Israeli occupation troops in separate incidents on Thursday as violence swept the Palestinian territories, where the Israeli army also injured and arrested of Palestinian activists and civilians..

In the West Bank town of Ramallah, an Israeli undercover unit traded fire with two Hamas activists driving in a car, security sources on both sides said. One of them was killed and the other arrested, but as the army jeeps zoomed out of the city through the busy streets, Israeli troops also shot dead Samir Abu Obaid, a 19-year-old traffic police, Palestinian security sources added. This Israelis also kileed Samer Al-Shamali, who was a security guard at the Ramallah hospital, where the Israelis executed their assassination.

The daytime curfew had been lifted Thursday on the city which has been reoccupied since June, and the Israeli operation drew the population's ire, an AFP correspondent on the scene said. Mustafa Barghuthi, the head of the main Palestinian NGO federation, was on the scene of the second killing which took place as crowds of people were out shopping.

"This is unbelievable. There is no security, everybody feels vulnerable in the territories, even when the curfew is lifted," he told AFP. In the northern West Bank, a leader of the Jihad group, Hamza Abu Al-Rob, was killed in his Qabatiya home which was then destroyed by tank shells, Palestinian security sources said.

Hamas described the killing as "a criminal assassination at the hands of the Zionist enemy forces" in a statement received by AFP in Beirut. The group vowed "this ugly crime will not go unpunished." Four Israeli soldiers were wounded, one seriously, in the gunfight near Jenin, military sources said.

An Israeli undercover unit also shot dead Jamal Nader (26), a member of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades -- an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah group -- near the city of Tulkarem, Palestinian security sources said. Another exchange of fire erupted in the nearby city of Nablus, which left an unarmed Palestinian teenager dead, they added. According to medical sources, a total of 26 Palestinians were injured in sporadic clashes around Nablus, three of them critically. Meanwhile in the Gaza Strip, two Palestinians from Hamas' military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, were killed by the army in a botched attack against the Israeli illegal settlement of Netzarim, military sources said.

Hamas only confirmed the death of one but said a second of their men was missing. Arafat adviser Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP that Israel was "reverting to its policy of assassinations and house demolitions for electoral reasons and with the goal of sabotaging the efforts being deployed to ease the situation." As the death toll for the 27-month-old initfada rose to 2,793, including 2,063 Palestinians and 681 Israelis, the army kept up its systematic sweep of the Palestinian territories.

Two members of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, including a senior leader of the group who was on Israel's most wanted, were captured in the northern West Bank city of Qalqilya, Palestinian security sources said. According to military sources, 120 suspected Palestinian militants were netted in Nablus alone in the past five weeks and Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said Sunday that 1,000 Palestinians had been rounded up since the beginning of November.

While kicking off his Likud party's campaign for upcoming elections Wednesday night, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon again said a "victory" over the Palestinians was needed before a peace could be reached with a new generation of Palestinian leaders.

On Thursday, the daily Haaretz reported that the Israeli army had already started building "special security zones" around West Bank settlements to prevent Palestinian infiltrations. The daily quoted an anonymous senior military official as saying these buffer zones were several hundred metres (yards) wide, defined by fences, guarded by patrols and watchtowers, and inside which new rules of engagement would apply, allowing soldiers to open fire on any infiltrator. - AFP

Israel expects wave of attacks during US strike on Iraq: press

Khaleej Times, 12/26/02

JERUSALEM - The Israeli army is concerned about a surge in Palestinian attacks in the event of a US-led strike against Iraq, the Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday citing a senior military officer.

The central command officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he expected attacks in which Palestinians wished to "show their support for Iraq and Saddam Hussein." The officer added there was no evidence of radical Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda cells operating in the West Bank -- but said there were constant attempts by groups based in Syria, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq to transfer funds and extend support to militant groups.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in early December that Al Qaeda militants were operating in the Gaza Strip, but provided no evidence to back his claims, which were roundly rejected by Palestinians. The officer justified continued Israeli operations in re-occupied Palestinian self-rule zones, saying "terrorist organizations" were still attempting to mount attacks.

He added Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's position had weakened, and that he had lost control over Palestinian militant groups, with local leaders now dictating the agenda. He said attempts by Arafat's mainstream Fatah party to convince the militant group Hamas to halt attacks on Israeli civilians or to change the strategy of the two-year Palestinian uprising during talks in Cairo would have no effect on local militant groups.

The second round of talks, expected to begin within days, is aimed at unifying the positions of Palestinian factions and agreeing to a ceasefire, even partial, as officials increasingly feel that suicide attacks have damaged their cause. Another Israeli newspaper, Maariv, said Thursday the Israeli leadership had chosen General Amos Gilad, coordinator of Israeli activities in the Palestinian territories, to calm Israeli public opinion during any US-led attack against Iraq.

Sharon and Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz chose Gilad, a former army spokesman, because he is fluent in English and Hebrew and is liked by the United States. In case of a war, his role would be to explain daily to the Israeli public and foreign media services the strategic situation on the ground as well as possible threats and the measures to be taken. He is to be aided by a dozen other officers, some notably speaking Arabic and Russian. - AFP

Top reformist blasts Iran's judiciary over "political" pollster trial

Khaleej Times, 12/26/02

TEHRAN - A top Iranian reformist leader has hit out at the hardline judiciary over what he said was a "politically motivated" trial of a group of pro-reform opinion pollsters, IRNA reported on Thursday. Mohammad Reza Khatami, the brother of embattled President Mohammad Khatami and leader of Iran's main reformist party, described the list of charges against Abbas Abdi as a "pompous political address."

Abdi, a former United States embassy hostage-taker, went on trial here Wednesday on charges of conducting opinion polls as a means to sell information to his old arch foes, as well as seeking to destroy the Islamic regime. "I do not consider cases like this to be of a judicial nature, and this is nothing new or unprecedented in this country," said Khatami, deputy parliament speaker and head of the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF). Abdi was arrested in a backlash from the judiciary -- a bastion of Iran's religious right -- over a survey that showed three-quarters of Iranians favour resuming dialogue with the United States.

Ties with Washington were cut in 1980 after the US embassy hostage taking, in which Abdi played a leading role as a young student. Abdi was arrested on the 23rd anniversary of the storming of the embassy. "Knowing Abdi and his background... the accusations brought up against him during the hearing were obviously politically motivated," the president's brother argued.

"If justice, truthfulness and common sense mattered, they would all be acquitted," he said, referring to Abdi and three others also facing charges related to their polling activities. During Wednesday's hearing, Abdi admitted that he had made "mistakes", especially by dealing with the Washington-based Gallup polling group -- described in court as being an arm of the CIA.

But Khatami accused the courts of "keeping the accused in solitary cells for long periods." "The accused in this case have not been tortured as such, but according to anyone who has been imprisoned... the most severe type of torture is solitary confinement for long periods," he argued. He also said Abdi has only been allowed two brief meetings with his lawyer. One of those meetings only lasted 12 minutes. "One of the major problems in this country is the lack of an independent judiciary," said the president's brother, who attended Wednesday's hearing.

The charges against Abdi include "selling information (to) enemies in line with their aim of harming our national security", seeking "to destroy public security... (and) the political structure of Islamic regime", "spreading lies against the Islamic Republic" and "holding classified, top secret documents".

Abdi, who is on the far left of Iran's reformist camp, was also forced to retract his calls for reformers -- whose agenda has for years been stymied by powerful hardliners in the courts and legislative oversight bodies -- to stage a mass walk-out from government. The judge overseeing the case is Said Mortazavi. He is also acting as a jury, and is best known for his closing down of several pro-reform newspapers.

Abdi is facing a punishment similar to his colleague Hossein Ghazian, who is looking at a 10-year prison sentence if convicted on espionage charges for conducting the poll. The head of the National Society of Public Opinion Studies, Behrouz Gheranpayeh has also been detained, although formal charges have yet to be brought against him.

A final defendant in the trial is Ali Reza Alavitabar, who also works for Ayandeh but who has not been detained. - AFP

Top Saudi singers to boycott music festival in Qatar: report

Khaleej Times, 12/26/02

RIYADH - Top Saudi singers have decided to boycott the third Doha music festival concert in Qatar next month in a new sign of strained ties between the two Gulf Arab states, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

Al-Riyadh daily said Saudi pop singers Abdulmajeed Abdullah, Rabeh Sager, Rashed al-Majed, Mohammad Abdo and Khaled Abdulrahman, whose names where listed as participants, have given different reasons for not going. Most of them said they were not attending because of "private reasons," Al-Riyadh said.

Relations between Saudi Arabia and neighbour Qatar, both members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), have been strained recently over the Doha-based Al-Jazeera satellite channel's airing a programme last June deemed offensive to the founder of Saudi Arabia, king Abdul Aziz.

Riyadh downgraded its representation at the GCC summit in Doha last week, sending Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal in place of Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, the kingdom's de facto ruler. Reports said that Saudi Arabia has demanded a formal apology from Qatar over the programme, but Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani denied on Sunday that such a request was received.

Prince Saud told reporters on Tuesday that Qatar knows what it ought to do to repair bilateral ties. - AFP

Libya's request to withdraw from Arab League "still frozen," league says

Khaleej Times, 12/26/02

CAIRO - Libya's request to withdraw from the 22-member Arab League remained frozen, league spokesman Hisham Yussef said on Thursday, openly contradicting Libya's claim the decision was final.

"There is nothing new about the Libyan request and that means it is still frozen," Yussef said after Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa visited Libya earlier in the week. In his talks in Tripoli, Mussa raised the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the US-led showdown with Iraq as well as plans for an Arab summit in Bahrain in March, without even discussing Libya's pullout request, Yussef said.

His comments flew in the face of those from Libya's minister for African Unity, Ali Abdel Salam Triki, who said Wednesday he had informed Mussa that Tripoli would quit the Arab League "due to the continuing situation of deterioration in the Arab world." However, Triki gave no date for such a withdrawal.

Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi also insisted on Wednesday that he still planned to pull his nation out of the 22-member Arab League, according to the official Jana news agency. Libya will stick by its decision "as long as the League charter is not re-activated and respected in a way that guarantees effective Arab action against the dangers facing the Arab world," he was quoted as saying.

Libya announced on October 24 that it wanted to quit the organisation for failing to do much to stop Israel's "aggression" against the Palestinians and US threats of war against Iraq. At the time, Mussa was only able to secure a freeze from Kadhafi on his decision to quit the League.

Tripoli is supposed to provide a full 10.3 percent of the organization's funding -- some 3.3 million dollars a year -- but its mounting disenchantment has made it the grouping's worst payer after Baghdad, owing some 20 million dollars in arrears. - AFP

War on Iraq could boost international terrorism: Russia

Khaleej Times, 12/26/02

MOSCOW - Russia warned on Thursday that military strikes against Iraq could take the world's focus off the ongoing military campaign in Afghanistan and lead to the spread of international terrorism.

"Switching the focus off Afghanistan and shifting it to Iraq can augment the threat of international terrorism which is coming from Afghan territories that are not under Kabul's control," Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov told the ITAR-TASS news agency. He reiterated Russia's view that the international community currently had no proof of a link between the Iraqi regime and international terror organizations.

"Nobody has been able to provide any evidence of this link," Fedotov said. Russia is opposed to a unilateral US military intervention against Iraq that has been threatened by Washington if Baghdad should be considered to be in material breach of UN Security Council resolution 1441, which orders it to completely give up weapons of mass destruction.

Both Washington and London have criticized Iraq's weapons declaration, presented to the UN on December 7, as inadequate. But Russia argues that a military campaign must not be launched without backing from the UN Security Council, where it wields veto power as a permanent member. Fedotov confirmed Moscow's position that it wanted Iraq to fully comply with weapons inspections and for the United States and Britain to give the investigators time to do their work before drawing up war plans.

And as one of Iraq's main backers in the international arena Fedotov said Russia would also be pressing for a re-evaluation of a UN sanctions regime against Iraq should Saddam Hussein's government provide the UN teams with unfettered access. "The most important goal is to transform the Iraqi conflict into one that can be resolved through political and diplomatic means,' Fedotov said.

"As Iraq's cooperation with the international community grows, we have to clarify the prospects of lifting the existing sanctions against Iraq," said Fedotov, who oversees Russia's negotiations with the United Nations. Iraq on Tuesday accused the United States and Britain of blocking contracts worth 7.4 billion dollars from being approved under the current UN oil-for-food program.

Iraq has been under UN trade sanctions since its invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The oil-for-food program, instituted in 1996, allows Iraq to buy food, medicine and other basic necessities in exchange for oil exports. Russia -- which holds a large chunk of the Iraq oil export contracts and has major investments in the country's all-but-frozen oil industry -- is seeking to simplify the sanctions list during ongoing negotiations with the United States.

Only a lifting of sanctions, along with Iraq's cooperation on weapons inspections, "can lead to a long-term solution to the Iraqi problem." - AFP

UN put Iraqi scientists under scrutiny

Khaleej Times, 12/26/02

BAGHDAD - UN experts, pursuing the hunt for Iraq's elusive weapons arsenal, interviewed on Thursday the head of Baghdad's Technology University after Russia disputed US claims of proof linking Iraq to international terrorism.

It was the second reported meeting with Iraqi scientists since disarmament inspectors resumed their work here a month ago, but little detail about the interviews has emerged. "The inspectors asked me questions about the organisation of our establishment, the names of teachers and the work of the university," Mazen Mohammad told the Arab satellite news channel Al Jazeera.

"They also asked questions about our relations with the various universities and government bodies," in Iraq. The interview began in his offices about 9:00 am and lasted about 100 minutes as the inspectors worked on through the Christmas holiday.

The inspectors had Tuesday interviewed an Iraqi scientist privately for the first time since they resumed work on November 27. Sabah Abdul Nur, a professor at the technology university, had previously been linked to Iraq's nuclear programme. He said he had been interviewed by representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) before the last round of inspections ended in December 1998.

The United States has urged the inspectors to use their powers under disarmament resolution 1441 to spirit Iraqi weapons scientists and their families out of the country to interview them safe from any intimidation by the Baghdad regime. However a leading Iraqi newspaper underlined once again they would find nothing untoward. The United States and Britain should halt their hostile policy to Baghdad and "save face" before UN weapons inspectors prove the elusive arms do not exist, Babel said

London and Washington, "have a historic chance to save face and give up their hostile policy towards us," said the daily run by President Saddam's Hussein's elder son Uday. President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair "have no more excuses" to justify their policy because the weapons inspections will expose their lies about weapons of mass destruction, the daily said. Despite all the latest technology, "the inspectors have not and will not prove that the weapons Bush and Blair speak of exist," Babel said.

Meanwhile, Russia disputed Washington's claim of having proof that Baghdad is linked to international terrorism, one of the White House's motivations for the showdown with Iraq. "No one can provide the slightest evidence" that Iraq represented a terrorist threat, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov was quoted by ITAR-TASS news agency as saying. Russia, the United States and Britain, along with France and China, are the five permanent security council members, each with veto power at the 15-member council.

Russia has argued that a military campaign against Iraq must not be launched without backing from the UN Security Council. Washington has sought to tie Iraq to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network at the same time as it has threatened unilateral military action and accused Iraq of being in material breach of UN Security Council Resolution 1441. And Syria, the only Arab member of the council, dismissed as "ridiculous" and "unfounded" on Wednesday accusations by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that Iraq had transferred weapons of mass destruction to Syrian soil.

"We are certain that Iraq has recently moved chemical or biological weapons into Syria," said Sharon who strongly backs US threats to topple the Baghdad regime. Israeli daily Haaretz reported Thursday some of the equipment -- rockets with a range between 100 and 150 kilometers (62 and 93 miles) -- allegedly transferred from Iraq to Syria is marked for Lebanon's Shiite radicals Hezbollah to attack Israel in case war breaks out. In Britain, religious heads and leading opposition politicians expressed fear Thursday about any US-led strikes against Iraq, in messages aimed at Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Using his traditional Christmas message to call for peace, the spiritual head of the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, said it was those which society regarded as "wise men" who "can't help making the most immense mistakes of all. "The strategists who know the possible ramifications of politics miss the huge and obvious things and wreak yet more havoc and suffering."

In a letter to the Times, Charles Kennedy, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats, wrote: "To drift into a war without clear evidence of Iraq's current involvement in constructing and deploying weapons of mass destruction, or of its deliberate non-compliance with the inspectors, would be to risk losing the support of the international community."

In the Mirror tabloid, Blair's own Roman Catholic priest accused him of "moral surrender". "Man must live by the will to integrity rather than the will to power," said Father Timothy Russ. "He has had a moral surrender from his past. His positions have changed over the years," Russ added. Pope John Paul II used his Christmas Day address to call for peace around the world. - AFP

US will not attack Iraq without UN backing: NATO chief

Khaleej Times, 12/26/02

LONDON - The United States will not launch a unilateral war on Iraq without UN backing, NATO Secretary General George Robertson said on Thursday. He reiterated that the 19-member Alliance could support military action against Iraq, and has been asked to consider such an option, but said no decisions have yet been taken.

"Up to now the United States has kept very rigidly to the United Nations route. They still do, the inspectors are still there," he told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). He added: "There is a certain amount of rhetoric, but in reality President Bush has strongly placed his country in the fold of NATO and also within international, multilateral institutions."

Washington asked NATO earlier this month for help in any possible military action. The request was made by US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz during a visit to NATO's Brussels headquarters. "What the Americans have done in NATO is to suggest a number of options where NATO could help in a military action and countries have been invited to consider that," he said.

"But no decisions have yet been taken on it," he added. The US request came after NATO leaders agreed at a November summit to take "effective action" to secure Iraq's "full and immediate compliance" with UN disarmament demands. - AFP

Iraq stocks up food ahead of possible US war

Khaleej Times, 12/26/02

BAGHDAD - Iraq is increasing food rations to allow Iraqis to stock up on food ahead of any possible war with the United States, Iraq's trade minister said on Thursday.

The minister, Mohammed Mehdi Saleh, also said any attack on Iraq would be no picnic and attackers would suffer heavy casualties. They would fail to achieve their goals, he added. "Iraq has taken all required measures to protect the country from any possible aggression that could take place," Saleh told Reuters in an interview in English. He said his ministry was one of the ministries responsible for taking some of these measures "to control the economic and trade situation during any possible war".

"We have basically supplied the people in quantity of food to be stocked in their houses for a minimum three months and we are going to increase the quantity in the coming months so that every body is secured in this regard," he said. Iraq had distributed essential foodstuffs to every family every month. The rations include wheat, rice, cooking oil and powder milk. It began giving out a double ration once every two months earlier this year. The foodstuff is imported by Iraq under an oil-for-food deal with the United Nations agreed since 1996 to easy the hardships of a 12-year-old economic embargo on Iraq.

Saleh said his ministry was also taking measures to ensure the local market continues to function in case of war. "The internal market as well has been reviewed and measures have been taken to be implemented once any attack takes place," he said. U.N. arms inspectors returned to Iraq last month after a four-year hiatus to resume a hunt for banned weapons of mass destruction, amid threats of war by the United States if Iraq fails to disarm under the terms of a United Nations resolution.

No picnic

Asked if he believed a war with the United States was inevitable, Saleh, clad in green military fatigue, said: "The United States is preparing for war. We have taken measures to defend our country, our land and it will not be a picnic.... "They will face hardship, difficulties and big loses if any aggression takes place and they will not achieve any objective from the war."

He said Iraqis had proved throughout the last century that they were tough fighters. "Iraq has been able in very primitive weapons, even sticks, to kick out aggressors. Iraq is capable of defending its land and its territories," Saleh said. "We wish that no war will take place but we will be able to kick out any aggression." Saleh blasted the British government for siding with the United States, saying London had once enjoyed good economic and bilateral ties with the government of President Saddam Hussein.

He said Britain had extended loans worth 2.7 billion pounds ($4.3 billion) to British firms in the 1980s to do business in Iraq. Saleh said ties could be revived once the British government changed its policy towards Baghdad. He said Iraq's trade relations with Russia remained very good despite the scrapping earlier this month of a multi-billion dollar deal with Russian LUKOIL company.

Saleh reiterated that the cancellation stemmed from contractual breaches and not political or diplomatic reasons. Russia had voted in favour of last month's Security Council resolution that set up tough conditions on Iraq weapons inspections. - Reuters

Pope urges world to avert Iraq war

Khaleej Times, 12/26/02

VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul, in his Christmas message to the world, appealed to the world yesterday to avert a conflict in Iraq. The Pope made his appeal for peace in the Middle East in his Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world) message.

In his appeal, his first public reference to the Iraq crisis, the Pope said believers in all religions were called to build peace. He said they were called on "in the Middle East, to extinguish the ominous smouldering of a conflict which, with the joint efforts of all, can be avoided."

The Vatican believes that any action in Iraq must be approved by the United Nations. In his message, broadcast to tens of millions of people via live link-ups with 50 countries, the Pope also appealed for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Builders of peace in the Holy Land were called, "above all, to put an end to the senseless spiral of blind violence."

Mistrust and fear should not be allowed to conquer humanity's desire to live in peace and tolerance, the Pope said. "From the cave of Bethlehem, there rises today an urgent appeal to the world not to yield to mistrust, suspicion and discouragement even though the tragic reality of terrorism feeds uncertainties and fears," the 82-year-old pontiff said. Speaking to some 20,000 pilgrims gathered in a rain-soaked St Peter's Square, the Pope called on all faiths worldwide to work together to build peace and to shun intolerance and discrimination everywhere.

In Baghdad, UN weapons experts visited at least nine suspect sites in Iraq yesterday, vowing no let-up for Christmas. "They are in Baghdad to work and they will work as long as they are there," Mark Gwozdecky, a spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency, said.

"We will continue work throughout the holiday," he said. Iraqi officials said teams from the IAEA and the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (Unmovic) began inspection of at least five sites in central and southern Iraq yesterday. A ballistics team was at Ibn Al Haitham military facility in central Iraq, while a biological team was checking Taji factory, the Iraqi officials said.

Other teams were heading to two undisclosed locations south and west of Baghdad, they said. Around two dozen experts who spent the night in the southern port city of Basra also headed to undisclosed locations in and around the city. One of those teams inspected a paper plant.

Meanwhile, a senior Russian official said yesterday that there were no evidence to prove that Iraq represents a terrorist threat. "No one can provide the slightest evidence" that Iraq represents a terrorist threat, Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov said, as quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency. - Reuters, AFP

Iran, Pakistan oppose unilateral action on Iraq

Khaleej Times, 12/26/02

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and Iran yesterday declared their opposition to any unilateral military action against Iraq and called upon Baghdad to comply with UN security resolutions on disarmament.

"Both sides expressed concern about the current situation in Iraq," according to an official joint communique issued at the end of a visit to Pakistan by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami.

"They opposed any unilateral or pre-emptive military operation against that country and underlined the central role of the United Nations in this regard," the communique said.

The two countries also called upon Iraq to comply with United Nations Security Council resolutions on weapons inspections, and held that "it was up to the people of Iraq to determine their own future through democratic means."

The two sides "expressed their determination to strengthen further bilateral relations by enhancing closer cooperation between the two countries in all areas, including political, defense, economic, cultural, commercial, scientific and technological fields," the statement said.

Khatami concluded his three-day visit to Pakistan yesterday. Earlier this month more than 1,000 Pakistanis took to the streets of the central city of Multan, protesting against any military action against Iraq.

On Saturday a top Iranian conservative official warned that Washington would next attack Iran. - AFP

Syria rejects allegation of hiding Iraqi arms

Khaleej Times, 12/26/02

AMASCUS - Syria yesterday brushed aside Israeli accusations that it was hiding Iraqi biological and chemical weapons.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Tuesday Israel suspected Baghdad was transferring arms to Syria to hide them from United Nations weapons inspectors.

"Sharon's allegations that Iraq has transported to Syria chemical and biological weapons are baseless and aim to avert attention from the nuclear, chemical and biological arsenal that Israel owns," the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The statement said the accusation was 'ridiculous' as Syria had signed international pacts against nuclear proliferation and had called on countries in the region to keep the Middle East free of all weapons of mass destruction. "The only side that stood and still stands against that call is Israel. Israel with its arsenal of weapons of mass destruction presents a danger not only to the Palestinians, Syria and Lebanon, but to the whole region and to international peace and security," the statement said. Israel is widely believed to have about 300 nuclear warheads but its policy is never to discuss the issue.

Sharon, in an interview with Israel's Channel Two television, said: "What we believe, and I say that we have not yet confirmed it conclusively, is that weapons he (Iraqi President Saddam Hussein) wants to hide, chemical and biological weapons, have indeed been sent to Syria." He gave no evidence to support the allegation.

UN weapons inspectors returned to Iraq last month after a four-year hiatus to resume a hunt for banned weapons of mass destruction - which Iraq denies possessing - amid threats by the United States to disarm Iraq by force if it does not obey UN resolutions.

Syria has told the United States it has no right to attack Iraq and has warned that US support for Israel was fuelling popular anger in the region.

Syria is among the countries the United States lists as sponsors of 'terrorism', mainly over its support for Lebanon's Hizbollah movement and Palestinian militants opposed to Israeli occupation of Arab territory. - Reuters

Blair praises PA reform conference

Khaleej Times, 12/26/02

CAIRO - British Prime Minister Tony Blair touted yesterday his invitation for Palestinians to discuss reforms in London next month as a crucial step on the road to Palestian statehood.

The January 13-14 conference has the aim of "ensuring that Palestinian reform is effective," Mr Blair wrote in the government daily Al Ahram.

"Reform is about nation-building," he added in explaining the invitation to Palestinian leaders that has been widely maligned in Israel. Mr Blair said that advancing reforms would promote the '"roadmap' for peace drafted by the diplomatic 'quartet' of the European Union, Russia, United Nations and United States, which envisions the creation of a Palestinian state by the end of 2005. "I believe that the international community should use the intervening period to boost the chances of the roadmap being implemented successfully once a new Israeli govt is in place," Mr Blair told the Egyptian paper.

Mr Blair explained he had asked Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to appoint the Palestinian Authority's delegates to the conference. Mr Blair said he has also extended invitations to "senior figures from within Palestinian civil society." - AFP

Mitzna criticises Sharon for spreading 'hysteria'

Khaleej Times, 12/26/02

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Israel's Labour party leader Amram Mitzna charged yesterday that his rival for the January legislative poll Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was spreading 'hysteria' among the population over the threat of an Iraqi war to cover up a graft scandal within his own party.

"Ariel Sharon is wreaking panic and hysteria on the dangers coming from Iraq partly to divert public attention from much more serious problems," Mr Mitzna told army radio.

On Monday, Sharon paid a much-publicised visit to the Home Front Command during, which he reminded the population of the threat of an Iraqi retaliation for a US military offensive.

On Tuesday night, he told Israeli television that Israel had received information according to which Iraq had recently transferred weapons of mass destruction to Syria. "The risk of an Iraqi missile attack is low according to our military officials and we need to make the necessary preparations in an unruffled manner and without lapsing into hysteria," Mr Mitzna said.

Sharon's popularity ratings against Mr Mitzna dipped slightly last week following a graft scandal involving payoffs from Likud aspirants in return for party central committee votes to include them on its list of parliamentary candidates.

However, Sharon is still expected to defeat Mr Mitzna by a wide margin. The Press already attacked Sharon on Tuesday and accused him of trying to cover up the scandal which has marred his recent Likud leadership election victory and threatened to undermine his January re-election bid. - AFP

Russia opposed to unilateral US strike on Iraq

Khaleej Times, 12/26/02

MOSCOW - Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov on Tuesday renewed Russia's opposition to a unilateral military strike on Iraq, labelling the possibility of a US-led offensive without UN backing "unacceptable".

"I very much hope that events around Iraq will develop in accordance with eventsset out by the UN Security Council," he told a Press conference.

"Russia will do everything in its power to see Resolution 1441 carried out," he said, referring to the Security Council decision imposing strict new terms for Iraqi weapons inspections. "International inspectors, including those from Russia, must present their first report on Iraq to the Security Council on January 27," the defence minister said.

"And future actions will be decided by this report," he added. "All other steps against Iraq are unacceptable." Russia has cautioned Washington against going it alone against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, calling instead for UN authority to enforce compliance and disarmament. - AFP

It doesn't feel like Christmas for raq's Christians

Khaleej Times, 12/26/02

BAGHDAD - Iraqi Christians put on a brave face to celebrate Christmas yesterday but there was little joy as the shadow of war with the United States loomed large.

Members of the minority Christian community held mass in churches across Iraq, sang carols to celebrate the birth of their saviour and prayed for peace.

But with President Saddam Hussein, in a Christmas message to Iraqis, warning that the drums of a US-led war against Iraq were beating louder, the mood was sombre.

"We are celebrating Christmas like any other people in the world and we are praying for peace to all," Maria Mardic told Reuters. Some said they were celebrating Christmas as an act of defiance. "We celebrate Christmas and practice our normal life despite the American threats and the embargo," a restaurant owner in Baghdad said. But the fear of what might be around the corner was all too clear. "I am going through the motions here," said a man who identified himself only as Marwan.

"I know it is Christmas but it doesn't feel like Christmas. All what we can think of is the looming war." "We want to live in peace and these things spoil our lives and take away the joy of Christmas," Anglican priest Ikram Mahni told Reuters. "We pray to the Lord to halt this war and let us live in peace together, Christians and Muslims, in Iraq," he said at Baghdad's Anglican church.

Flower shops and restaurants in the posh Karradah neighbourhood of Baghdad were decorated for the occasion. Santa Claus made several appearances in the area and his portraits joined pictures of Saddam on some shop windows.

The United States has threatened to lead a military coalition to disarm Iraq if it does not obey UN resolutions. It is building up its forces in the Middle East as UN weapons inspectors are looking for alleged banned weapons.

Iraq denied it has any nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Christians number about 1.5 million out of a total Iraqi population of about 23 million, the vast majority of them Muslims. The colourful mosaic of Christian sects includes Chaldeans, Copts, Roman and Melkite Catholics, Maronites and Greek Orthodox. Among the most prominent Iraqi Christians is Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz.

In his Christmas message, Saddam said the festive season this year was marked by special circumstances "created by the powers of evil and darkness to spread chaos and create states of destabilisation and tension" in many parts of the world.

To achieve the goal of controlling the wealth of countries, he said the "forces of evil" resort to "various ways and means of lies and deception, fabrication and false accusation, as well as threats and military aggression. It is in this context that the American-Zionist campaign against Iraq is being launched while the tone of a threatened, large-scale military aggression against our peace-loving people is growing louder," he said. - Reuters

Iran presses on with test flights

Khaleej Times, 12/26/02

TEHERAN - Iran was yesterday pressing on with a test flight of the locally-built Iran-140 plane, after a team of Ukrainian and Russian engineers involved in the project died in a plane crash. State media said the scheduled event would go ahead, but added that a minute's silence would be held in honour of the dead. Late on Monday, an Antonov An-140 - on which the Iran-140 is based - smashed into the side of a mountain in central Iran, killing all on board. - AFP

'Saddest Christmas ever' in Bethlehem

Khaleej Times, 12/26/02

BETHLEHEM - As bells tolled, hundreds of Palestinians made their way through rain-swept streets to Christmas mass at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem's Manger Square, a brightly lit centre of festivities in happier days. An Israeli army pullback to the outskirts of the Palestinian-ruled West Bank town failed to bring much joy to residents who had been largely confined to their homes under military curfew during a month-long reoccupation.

"It is the saddest Christmas ever for us here," Estella Mubarak, a 60-year-old grandmother, said inside the church built on the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born. "The worst thing is we cannot afford to buy any presents for our children." Two years of Israeli-Palestinian violence have scared pilgrims away. There were few lights, ornaments or tourists to usher in the holiday season. Souvenir shops have gone out of business and hotels have closed for lack of guests.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was but a ghost of Christmas past at Midnight Mass in Bethlehem, his empty chair a symbol of holiday gloom for Palestinians in a town ringed by Israeli armour. Israel for the second straight year barred him from making the short trip from his battered headquarters in Ramallah. It accuses Arafat of fomenting violence in an uprising for statehood, an allegation he denies.

The Latin Patriarch in the Holy Land issued a strong appeal for an end to strife and freedom for Palestinians from Israeli occupation. But violence continued on Christmas Day. Israeli soldiers killed a senior militant from the group Hamas in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian and Israeli sources said.

"Blood has been flowing"

Speaking to a packed congregation at Midnight Mass in the Roman Catholic Saint Catherine's church, adjoining the Church of the Nativity, Patriarch Michel Sabbah told Israelis:

"Blood has been flowing in your cities and streets, but the key to solving this conflict is in your hands. By your actions so far, you have crushed the Palestinian people but you still have not achieved peace." A Palestinian, Sabbah addressed the empty chair which Arafat -- although a Muslim -- had occupied in past years. "We wish you were with us tonight, and we call on God to give you the wisdom and the power under this siege to continue your mission toward peace and justice," Sabbah said.

Arafat's front-row seat was draped with a chequered Arab headdress, a symbol of his struggle for a homeland. On the chair was a sign in English reading: "His Excellency Yasser Arafat, President of the State of Palestine," framed by a drawing of the Palestinian flag. Israeli forces reoccupied the West Bank town following a suicide bombing that killed 11 Israelis on a Jerusalem bus. Bethlehem was the bomber's hometown.

In an apparent goodwill gesture following appeals from Pope John Paul, the army said it had withdrawn to the edges of Bethlehem. It said it would "continue to operate according to the security situation and existing terror threats".

Israel handed the town over to Palestinian rule in 1995 but controls its entrances. In April, the Israeli army pushed into Bethlehem as part of a widescale offensive following suicide bombings in Israel. About 30 Palestinian gunmen holed up inside the Church of the Nativity on April 2, and Israel laid siege to the shrine. Under a European Union-brokered deal, 13 Palestinians were exiled abroad and 26 expelled from the West Bank to Gaza. Christians are a tiny minority among the three million mostly Muslim Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, but they make up about 35 percent of the 140,000 people in Bethlehem and its satellite villages.

Saudi reiterates will not join any war on Iraq

Khaleej Times, 12/26/02

RIYADH - Saudi Arabia has reiterated that it will not take part in military action against Iraq and will not necessarily allow strikes to be launched from its territory, Saudi newspapers said on Wednesday.

The papers were quoting Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal telling a news conference late on Tuesday that even if the United Nations sanctions war on Iraq, the conservative kingdom would not send troops to fight alongside the US army.

The kingdom, a key US ally, sent soldiers to the 1991 US-led Gulf War against Baghdad and was a main launchpad for the strikes. Last month, Prince Saud told CNN that his country would not allow the United States to use its facilities for any attack against neighbouring Iraq, apparently contradicting earlier remarks in which he indicated Washington could use Saudi bases if the war was approved by the United Nations.

Saudi Arabia hosts more than 5,000 US soldiers and other Western troops. Asked if these soldiers would be used in an attack, Saud said the troops were in Prince Sultan airbase to enforce no-fly zones in southern Iraq, adding: "This does not mean the kingdom will attack Iraq or will allow strikes from its territory." "If the UN Security Council sanctions war against Iraq, that will require cooperation, but this does not mean that all countries must take part in military action," he added.

"Obviously, we will not take part in military action." A US air campaign against Iraq would be more difficult, but not impossible, without access to Saudi bases. The United States has turned to Qatar, another regional ally, pouring $1.4 billion into expanding bases there. The move may be partly responsible for a row between Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Although concerned about US ties, Saudi Arabia is wary of an attack on Iraq mainly due to internal opposition and sympathy for Iraq among many ordinary Muslims. Saud said the kingdom was trying its best to prevent any war on Iraq, as it would destabilise the whole region. He also denied there was any crisis in the kingdom's relations with the United States.

US-Saudi ties have come under pressure since the September 11, 2001 suicide attacks. Several of the suspected hijackers were Saudis. Saudi Arabia has angrily denounced what it calls "negative propaganda" against it by US media. - Reuters

3 killed in Pakistan church attack
Arab News

ISLAMABAD, 26 December 2002 — Three worshipers were killed and at least 15 people injured late yesterday in an attack on a Presbyterian church in Pakistan’s central Punjab province. "Three people have been killed and 10 others were injured when unidentified men threw explosives into a UP church in a village," police officer Mohammad Ashraf told AFP from the nearby Punjab town of Daska, speaking by telephone.

The attack took place at 8:30 p.m. (1530 GMT) in the United Presbyterian church of Chuyyanwali village, some 200 km (124 miles) southeast of the capital Islamabad.

Two men wearing burqas threw hand grenades into the main chapel in the midst of a crowded evening Christmas service, an Interior Ministry official in Islamabad said.

A doctor at a hospital in neighboring Gujranwala district said he had received a number of the casualties. "We have received one dead and 15 injured. Two of them are in serious condition and they have been referred to a hospital in (the Punjab capital) Lahore," Iftikhar Hussain said. "The rest have minor blast injuries. All the victims are Christians," he added.

Police said the dead were all young women.

The attack came the same day that police announced they had found explosives and ammunition near a heavily guarded church in Pakistan’s capital. Church officials feared they had been the intended target of an attack, but went ahead with yuletide services.

Pakistani security officials said they found a shopping bag in bushes containing two handmade grenades and 20 shell casings about 100 meters from the St. Thomas’s Protestant Church.

"I don’t know what the motive was of the people who left these two hand grenades and some other ammunition," a senior Interior Ministry official, Brig. Javed Cheema, told The Associated Press.

The church’s pastor, Rev. Irshad John said Christmas Day services would be held as planned despite his belief that St. Thomas’s had been targeted for attack. More than half-dozen policemen cradling rifles have stood outside the church in the days leading up to Christmas.

Since Pakistan lent its support to the US-led military campaign to overthrow Afghanistan’s hard-line Taleban, attacks on Christians by militants have killed about 30 people and injured at least 100. The United States is widely identified as a Christian country.

There have been four deadly attacks on Christians in Pakistan this year. The last was on Sept. 25, when gunmen entered the offices of a Christian welfare organization in Karachi, tied seven employees to their chairs and shot each in the head, execution style.

On March 17, a grenade attack on a Protestant church in Islamabad killed five people, including a US Embassy employee and her 17-year-old daughter. (Agencies)

Hekmatyar aligns with Al-Qaeda
Arab News

ISLAMABAD, 26 December 2002 — An Afghan rebel leader yesterday said his forces had allied with Taleban and Al-Qaeda fugitives and that a "holy war" would be stepped up to target international forces and peacekeepers.

"We are together" with the fugitive fighters, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said in a Pashto-language message distributed in Pakistan by his followers.

European intelligence sources say Hekmatyar’s operatives have purchased vehicles that may be used for bomb attacks to try to destabilize Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government.

Hekmatyar was a key guerrilla commander during the 1980s Soviet war in Afghanistan. In the civil war that paved the way for the Taleban takeover, Hekmatyar’s men pounded the capital of Kabul with daily rocket barrages. He lived in exile in Iran during the five years of the Taleban rule. He returned after US-led forces ousted the hard-line militia.

His following among ethnic Pashtuns is considered fairly significant. There is no accurate assessment of his forces but the US forces say he is a threat and consider him a target.

US Special Forces are combing the rugged mountains of Afghanistan’s northeastern Kunar province looking for fugitive Al-Qaeda and followers of Hekmatyar, who are believed to be there in significant numbers. Special forces in Kunar have come under regular rocket attacks, many of them believed to be staged by Hekmatyar’s men.

"Hezb-e-Islami will fight our jihad (holy war) until foreign troops are gone from Afghanistan and Afghans have set up an Islamic government," Hekmatyar said. Hezb-e-Islami is the name used for his forces.

International forces in Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan have come under increasing fire in recent days. In Kabul, two US special forces soldiers were wounded when a grenade was hurled at their vehicle. Two Afghans died also in Kabul when grenades were thrown at a base of the international peacekeepers.

In southern Kandahar, one Afghan soldier died and several others were injured in a remote-controlled bombing last Sunday. In Kunar province, a US soldier was hurt when rockets were fired at his base.

Afghan and Pakistani sources told The Associated Press two weeks ago that attack squads were being trained in neighboring Pakistan. The nephew of Maulvi Abdul Kabir, once the number three man in the Taleban, said the training camps were in Pakistan’s Bajour region, bordering Kunar province and in Mansehra area, also in the deeply conservative North West Frontier Province.

While he wouldn’t give more details, his disclosure of training camps came just before the spate of attacks in Afghanistan and the arrests in southern Karachi of men police there said were planning attacks.

Four men, who belonged to the outlawed Jaish-e-Muhammad militant group, said they were recruited by two men of Middle Eastern origin, given money to buy explosives and weapons in Pakistan’s tribal regions where such material is readily available.

"There will be more attacks, not just in Afghanistan but here. In the tribal regions there has been a lot of buying of weapons in recent months," said Kabir’s nephew.

In the tribal belt, owners of several arms shops, who did not want their names used, said large quantities of Kalashnikov rifles and grenades have been purchased in recent months by both Afghans and Pakistanis. (AP)

French govt wants French-speaking imams
By Paul Michaud, Special to Arab News
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PARIS, 26 December 2002 — Pierre Bedier, a high-level official of the French Justice Ministry and a political crony of Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, says that less than one week after creation of a unified representative organization for French Muslim — the Conseil francais du culte musulman (CFCM) — France should now turn its attention to imposing "French-educated and French-speaking" imams.

Bedier, who is the mayor of Mantes-la-Jolie, an important Muslim population center in the Paris region, as well as state secretary for justice, says that with creation of the CFCM, "there should henceforth no longer exist the idea of Islam as a foreign entity existing in France, rather there should now be an Islam of France, that is quintessentially French."

Developing his idea on the French radio network Europe 1, Bedier noted that "the imams of French Islam should now be French, and be able to express themselves in French, something which is a necessary precondition to a proper integration of Islam in France."

Bedier also said that France should revise its rules on the public financing of religious institutions "so that the French government might now be allowed to use public funds to set up a special school."

Khatami calls for talks on Kashmir
Arab News

LAHORE, 26 December 2002 — Iranian President Mohammed Khatami said yesterday residents of Kashmir should decide the fate of the disputed province as he wrapped up a three-day visit to Pakistan that focused largely on security, politics and business.

During his stay in Islamabad, the capital, Khatami broached a host of sensitive issues with his Pakistani counterparts, including Iran’s intention to push forward with a nuclear power plant that Washington fears could help it develop atomic weapons.

He also said he would help mend relations between Pakistan and India, and gave what appeared to be support for Pakistan’s proposal for a referendum on Kashmir.

"As a Muslim, a human and an Iranian, I believe the atrocities in Kashmir are intolerable. The Kashmir issue should be resolved according to the wishes of Kashmiris," he said.

"I appeal to Pakistan and Indian governments to hold talks and resolve the Kashmir issue amicably."

Khatami, who is the first Iranian leader to visit Pakistan since 1992, also discussed Afghanistan, where Pakistan and Iran in the past have often found themselves backing different forces. During his stay, the two nations said they now widely agreed on Afghan issues.

Pakistan and Iran also declared their opposition to any unilateral military action against Iraq. "Both sides expressed concern about the current situation in Iraq," according to a joint communique issued at the end of Khatami’s visit.

"They opposed any unilateral or pre-emptive military operation against that country and underlined the central role of the United Nations in this regard," it said.

At a joint news conference with Pakistan’s newly elected Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali, the Iranian president said Tuesday "there is nothing between Pakistan and Iran that can’t be resolved through negotiations."

The neighbors have said they are eager to foster better economic ties. They hope that will include a $3.5 billion gas pipeline running from Iran through Pakistan to India. The deal hasn’t been finalized, largely because of deep tensions between Pakistan and India.

Khatami offered to help ease the enmity between the two South Asian nuclear rivals and to address any reservations India might have about the pipeline, which experts say could provide major economic benefits to all three countries.

Addressing a gathering of businessmen in Lahore, Khatami called the project "the pipeline of peace and friendship," adding that Iran "regards it as a symbol of the strategic economic ties between our two countries."

At a reception in Lahore, where the Iranian president was greeted by enthusiastic crowds, Khatami urged Muslims to unify. "We need to be united, not against any one, but united to solve our problems," he said. "People have had enough of terrorism. It is time to unite and to spread peace and justice for progress."

While in Lahore, Khatami visited Pakistan’s Shahi Mosque, which houses the tomb of Pakistani philosopher and poet, Allama Iqbal. (Agencies)

Somali peace talks postponed
Compiled by Salad F. Duhul
Arab News, 12/26/02

The Somali peace talks in Kenya have been suspended until after the Kenyan elections, reports said on Tuesday. The peace talks, in progress since Oct. 15 under the sponsorship of the East African body of Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), will recommence on Dec. 30. A spokesman for the Kenyan Foreign Ministry told reporters that the postponement was due to Christmas and the Kenyan elections on Dec. 27. Some participants have already left because the Somalis agreed last week to reduce the number of delegates to 300. On Monday, Elijah Mwangale, chairman of IGAD technical committee, told a press conference that the second round of the talks had gone well. The present phase, in which the participants are discussing a provisional federal charter, disarmament, and land issues, will be concluded by the end of January. In the third phase, the delegates will discuss a power-sharing formula and the formation of a broad-based government.

*****

On Monday, media reports from Hargeisa said that the electoral commission in the northern region of breakaway Somaliland had issued final results for the local elections. The ruling party, Udub, won the elections with 197,938 votes. The reports, however, added that some opposition parties, Sahan and Asad, accused the electoral commission of mismanaging the counting. There was no voting in the disputed Las Anod district. There was an attack earlier this month in the district on the visiting Somaliland leader, Dahir Riyaleh Kahin. Las Anod is the capital of Sool region which — along with Sanaag region — is claimed by both Somaliland and the neighboring autonomous region of Puntland. The regions fall geographically within the borders of former British Somaliland but most of the clans have their origins in Puntland. Voters have elected 300 local government officials — mayors, committee members and deputies — in the region’s 20 districts. The local elections in which six parties participated were postponed from October. According to the electoral commission, the postponement was due to delays in registering the parties. The elections have been holding before the voting for president which will take place at the end of January.

No arms will be found - Saddam
Baghdad |Reuters | Gulf News, 26-12-2002
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Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said on Tuesday that U.N. weapons inspections, if fair, would expose American "lies" and prove that Iraq was free of weapons of mass destruction.

But in a Christmas Eve message read out on state television, he questioned whether a November Security Council resolution on disarming Iraq would proceed as intended.

"We are confident that the outcome of the inspections will be a great shock to the United States and will expose its lies, if things remain on a technical and professional course with no hidden agendas," Saddam said.

"The world will then discover its false allegations and will see the bad intentions of its officials," he added. "But will things proceed in a manner that will ensure the achievement of the Security Council's declared objectives?"

He said the Christian festive season this year was marked by special circumstances "created by the powers of evil and darkness to spread chaos and create states of destabilisation and tension" in many parts of the world.

As in some other Arab states in the region, Christians form a small minority among Iraq's 24 million people, most of whom are Muslims.

U.N. weapons inspectors returned to Iraq last month after a four-year break to resume the hunt for biological, chemical and nuclear weapons of mass destruction.

The United States has threatened to lead a military coalition to disarm Iraq if it does not obey U.N. resolutions.

Iraq denies that it has any weapons of mass destruction, and agreed to Security Council Resolution 1441 which set tough terms for inspections and threatened war if Baghdad did not comply.

Saddam said Iraq accepted resolution 1441, which he again described as "bad", not as a sign of weakness or fear but "to prove its sincerity when it declares that it has none of these (banned) weapons".

Meanwhile, U.N. weapons experts visited seven suspect sites in Iraq yesterday, taking no break for Christmas, as President Saddam Hussein warned Iraqis the drums of war were beating louder.

"They are in Baghdad to work and they will work their butts off as long as they are there," Mark Gwozdecky, a spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on Christmas Eve.
"We will continue work throughout the holiday," he said.

Teams from the IAEA and the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) visited seven sites in central and southern Iraq on Christmas Day, a U.N. spokesman in Baghdad said.

The IAEA inspected the large Hatteen Fateh Explosives Factory which produces explosives for bombs, shells and rockets and the Umm al-Maarik Factory, which produces military parts.
An IAEA team joined with Iraqi auditors at the Qa Qaa explosives plant where they made item counts of important dual- use materials and compared results, the spokesman said.

An UNMOVIC biological team inspected a liquid propane gas filling company in Taji area just north of Baghdad. Missile teams inventoried storage buildings at two military plants 30 km (18 miles) north of Baghdad.

Around two dozen experts who spent the night in the southern port city of Basra also inspected a paper plant.

The inspectors returned to Iraq last month after a four-year hiatus to resume a hunt for banned weapons of mass destruction, amid threats of war by the United States if Iraq fails to disarm under the terms of a United Nations resolution.

Syria yesterday brushed aside Israeli accusations that it was hiding Iraq's biological and chemical weapons. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Tuesday Israel suspected Baghdad was transferring arms to Syria to hide them from the inspectors.

"Sharon's allegations that Iraq has transported to Syria chemical and biological weapons are baseless and aim to avert attention from the nuclear, chemical and biological arsenal that Israel owns," the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

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