09 July 2008

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UAE cancels Iraq debt, names new ambassador

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press WriterSun Jul 6, 8:51 PM ET

The United Arab Emirates canceled billions of dollars of Iraqi debt
Sunday and moved to restore a full diplomatic mission in Baghdad,
evidence of Iraq's improved security and growing acceptance of its
Shiite-led government.

The Abu Dhabi government announced the debt relief and the naming of a
new ambassador to Baghdad shortly after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki began a visit to the wealthy Gulf nation.

The news was sure to bolster al-Maliki's government, which has been
urging Iraq's Sunni Arab neighbors to forgive loans made during Saddam
Hussein's regime and restore diplomatic relations.

Al-Maliki, who has been in office since May 2006, thanked the UAE for
the debt cancellation, telling local businessmen it was a "swift and
courageous" decision.

The Emirates' official news agency, WAM, quoted the president, Sheik
Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as saying he hoped canceling the debt would
lighten the "economic burden" facing Iraqis and he urged the country to
unite behind al-Maliki's government.

WAM said the debt was $4 billion excluding interest. A UAE official who
spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak
to the media said the total debt was $7 billion with interest.

Iraq has been appealing for relief of at least $67 billion in foreign
debt — owed mostly to Arab nations that have been reluctant to forgive
Iraq's belligerence during Saddam Hussein's regime.

In addition, the U.N. Compensation Commission says $28 billion remains
to be paid for Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Iraq now gives 5 percent
of its oil revenue to meet the compensation claims.

Al-Maliki's American backers also have pushed Arab states to restore
ties with Iraq, where violence has declined by 70 percent over the past
year. Neighboring Jordan named an ambassador last week, and Kuwait and
Bahrain say they will soon follow suit.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the U.S. welcomed the UAE
decision to cancel the Iraqi debt, appoint an ambassador and reopen
their embassy in Baghdad.

"We appreciate the Emiratis' recognition that a secure and prosperous
Iraq is in the interests of everyone in the region. Prime Minister
Maliki and the government of Iraq should also be applauded for their
continued outreach to their neighbors, and their efforts to advance a
positive agenda through regional diplomacy," said Johndroe, who was in
Japan with President Bush at the Group of Eight meeting of major powers.

In Abu Dhabi, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Abdullah
al-Shehi, the UAE's former head of mission in India, was named
ambassador to Iraq. The country said last month that an appointment was
upcoming.

The UAE withdrew its ambassador to Iraq after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion
and after one of its diplomats was kidnapped and later released.

Sunni militant groups like al-Qaida in Iraq, mistrustful of the
government, have warned Arab states not to open embassies in Baghdad.
The capital's first major car bomb of the war struck the Jordanian
Embassy, killing 19 people in the summer of 2003. Diplomats from Egypt,
Morocco, Bahrain, Turkey and Sudan have all been either killed, wounded
or kidnapped in Iraq.

Al-Maliki chided his Arab "brothers" at an April conference of Iraq's
neighbors in Kuwait, saying he found it "difficult to explain why
diplomatic exchange has not taken place." Most major Western diplomatic
missions in Baghdad are located in the U.S.-protected Green Zone.

Iraq's deputy foreign minister, Labid Abbawi, said Sunday that the
country plans to open consulates soon in Detroit, Michigan, and San
Diego. He told The Associated Press they chose those cities because they
have large Iraqi communities.

______

Associated Press Writer Barbara Surk contributed to this report from Dubai.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080707/ap_on_re_mi_ea/uae_iraq_debt

08 July 2008

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Iraqi FM Says Security Pact With US 'Almost Finalized'

Iraq's foreign minister says his government and the United States have "almost finalized" a long-term security pact.

Hoshyar Zebari said Wednesday that Washington has shown, in his words, a "great deal of flexibility" in the negotiations. Both sides hope to reach a deal this month that would allow U.S. troops to remain in Iraq after their U.N. mandate expires in December.

Zebari said Tuesday that the U.S. had agreed to Iraqi demands to end the legal immunity granted to foreign contractors in Iraq. Negotiators also are discussing how much power the U.S. military will have to detain Iraqi citizens and patrol Iraq's air space.

In other developments, Iraqi security forces detained three prominent supporters of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Wednesday. The suspects were detained in the southern province of Maysan, where they serve on the provincial council.

Iraqi police say the three detainees are suspected of supporting Shi'ite militias.

A spokesman for Sadr criticized the arrests and accused the Iraqi government of targeting the cleric's supporters.

In other developments Wednesday, the U.S. military said coalition forces captured three criminals and seized weapons during several raids in Baghdad. It says two of those detained are Iranian-backed Shi'ite insurgents.

Also, Iraqi Foreign Minister Zebari said Jordan's King Abdullah plans to visit Iraq soon. The king would be the first Arab head of state to visit Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Zebari said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also is expected to visit Iraq. He said no date has been set for either trip.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-07-03-voa7.cfm

07 July 2008

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Iraqi - Kuawiti negotiations regarding mutual oil wells

07 July 2008 (Iraq Directory)

Informed sources revealed the existence of Iraqi negotiations - to
discuss the Kuwaiti oil fields shared between the two countries and find
solutions for the problems, Assuring that Iraq is losing 1600 barrels of
oil per day, due to transferring them from Iraqi wells to Kuwait.

The Deputy Chairman of Oil and Gas Committee in the parliament Mohamed
Hussein Al Yassin said: "The common fields between Iraq and Kuwait are
located in Southern Rumaila region "Ratqah" and the Dome of Safwan in Al
Zubayr field are activating efficiently through the use of high
technology precision and maximum possible investment by Kuwait,
especially after the Iraq border demarcation in mid-nineties Of the last
century, Iraq lost 11 oil wells in Rumaila ,and 3 wells at dome of
Safwan and Zubayr region. ";

Yassin pointed out that, the Foreign Ministry conducted dialogues and
negotiations with the Kuwaiti side which is trying to activate the
shared Technical committees, where studying the possibility of these oil
fields, energy of production and stockpile, in addition to each
country's share of this provision and the amount should be withdrawn by
each country. He pointed to the existence of future meetings with the
Iranian side to discuss the issue of stabilizing the border in
accordance with the Treaty of Algiers and for the purpose of knowledge
in fields on the Iraqi side and the Iranian side. He confirmed that
"negotiations between the Iraqi and Kuwaiti sides continued despite the
reluctance, especially Kuwait declared readiness to resolve the border
problems on the fields, which were drilled more than 20 wells in the
area Ratqah and 25 wells in the area opposite the Dome of Safwan on the
Kuwaiti side," warning that the use of Modern technology and
continuously causing exhaust of oil. He continued, Vice Chairman of the
Committee: that there is information indicating that 1600 barrels of oil
moved from Iraq to the Kuwaiti fields daily, calling for the need to end
the file of the fields shared by referring the issue to international
companies specialized in production and determine the share of each
country, calling at the same time, the adoption of modern technology in
the field of oil and out of the complications that prevent development,
as well as the need to focus efforts on the south border near Kuwait to
repair the wells in the region and to reduce the transference of oil to
Kuwait.

03 July 2008

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Article 140...between reality and constitution

Baghdad, 30 June 2008 (Voices of Iraq)

While still under debate among political forces, an extension of the deadline for the implementation of Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution will expire in July 2008, with many raising questions about the constitutional and legal aspects of its implementation.

The deputy chairman of the Constitutional Amendments Committee in the Iraqi parliament, Fouad Masoum, says that the parliament is not authorized to extend the implementation of constitutional articles.

Speaking to Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq- (VOI), Masoum, who is also a member of the Kurdistan Coalition (KC), (55 seats), said that the controversy over disputed areas is still going strong on the political scene. "Only the Constitutional Amendments Committee is authorized to extend the deadline for the implementation of the article," Masoum added.

"The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for Iraq Staffan de Mistura can intervene to find solutions that are acceptable to all parties in the dispute," he explained.

In early June, de Mistura presented a number of recommendations on four disputed districts to the Iraqi government. The UN official recommended that Akra and Makhmour districts be administered by the Kurds, and al-Hamdaniya and Mandali districts by the central government.

Most Iraqi political forces expressed their categorical rejection of de Mistura's recommendations.

The UN official is expected to submit his recommendations of the second stage of disputed areas, including Tal Afar, Sinjar, Shikhan and Khaneqeen. The third stage will be devoted to the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution is related to the normalization of the situation in Kirkuk city and other disputed areas.

Kurds seek to include the city in the autonomous Iraq's Kurdistan region, while Sunni Muslims, Turkmen and Shiites oppose the incorporation. The article currently stipulates that all Arabs in Kirkuk be returned to their original locations in southern and central Iraqi areas, and formerly displaced residents returned to Kirkuk, 250 km northeast of Baghdad. The article also calls for conducting a census to be followed by a referendum to let the inhabitants decide whether they would like Kirkuk to be annexed to the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region or having it as an independent province.

These stages were supposed to end on December 31, 2007, a deadline that was later extended to six months to end in July 2008.

Last month, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) warned in statements by its official spokesman, Jamal Abdullah, of the repercussions of not implementing Article 140. The spokesman indicated that any decision on the controversial article should first be referred to the regional government and political blocs, noting that the passing of time is not a great healer in this regard.

Raed Fahmi, an official from the committee, told VOI that the legal status will be determined by the Iraqi cabinet. "Our committee is affiliated with the cabinet and the decision is in the hands of the prime minister," Fahmi noted.

When asked about the developments in the committee's work, Fahmi said: "We are currently working on the normalization process and we have made much progress in this regard. We also pay compensation to the displaced and returnees…."

 

http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php?refid=DH-S-01-07-2008&article=33143

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Bush signs Iraq, Afghanistan war-funding

US President says 162-billion-dollar spending bill is clear message nation continues to support its troops.
 
Washington, 01 July 2008 (Middle East Online)

US President George W. Bush on Monday signed into law a 162-billion-dollar spending bill funding the Afghanistan and Iraq wars well into 2009 - roughly six months into his successor's term.

"With this legislation, we send a clear message to all that are serving on the front line that our nation continues to support them," he said after signing the bitterly debated legislation at the White House.

Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain - Bush's chosen heir - have feuded sharply over Iraq as they battle over who will win the November election and the keys to the White House in January 2009.

The war remains vastly unpopular, and part of the reason that Bush's job approval sits at record lows, with roughly two out of three Americans in recent opinion polls saying the March 2003 US-led invasion was a bad idea.

And the surveys suggest that most Americans are more concerned with the faltering economy than with Iraq as they reel from an epidemic of home foreclosures, job losses and skyrocketing gasoline prices.

Bush has taken pains to underline security gains in Iraq resulting from his decision to "surge" roughly 30,000 more soldiers there in January 2007, and stressed that the troops are coming home as a result.

Critics have countered that political progress remains elusive and that the "surge" failed to achieve its goal of handing security for the whole country to Iraqi forces by November 2007.

But while Democrats won the US Congress in November 2006 partly on pledges to end the war, they have failed to set a timetable for bringing home the roughly 150,000 US troops in Iraq.

"I appreciate that Republicans and Democrats in Congress agreed to provide these vital funds without tying the hands of our commanders and without an artificial timetable of withdrawal from Iraq," Bush said.

"Our troops have driven the terrorists and extremists from many strongholds in Iraq. Today, violence is at the lowest level since March of 2004. As a result of this progress, some of our troops are coming home, as a result of our policy called 'return on success.' We welcome them home," said Bush.

Democrats took comfort from having inserted into the legislation a modern version of the post-World War II GI Bill to expand education benefits to veterans, a plan that Senate Republicans and the White House had opposed.

The veterans' benefits part of the legislation also included a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits and aid for Midwest flood victims.

"I'm pleased that the bill I sign today includes an expansion of the GI Bill. This legislation will make it easier for our troops to transfer unused education benefits to their spouses and children," said Bush.

The legislation calls on the Iraqi government to spend as much money as US taxpayers for reconstruction, and bars the Bush administration from using the funding to establish permanent bases in Iraq.

The White House contends that no overseas base can be called "permanent" because host governments are always free to order US forces out.

Last week, the US president and his Iraqi counterpart, Jalal Talabani, met at the White House and discussed efforts to seal a planned long-term US-Iraq security deal that would set the rules for the US military presence in Iraq after their UN mandate expires late this year.

US and Iraqi officials with knowledge of the closed-door negotiations said they hope to forge the controversial deal by late July, though the talks have only edged forward over the past several weeks with some compromises.

Key areas of dispute have included the question of US troops' standing under Iraqi law, and whether they could be brought before Iraqi courts, as well as plans for long-term US military bases, freedom to conduct operations, and to arrest and detain Iraqis.

 

http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php?refid=DH-S-01-07-2008&article=33164

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U.S. to send 33,000 troops to Iraq as replacement

Washington, 01 July 2008 (Xinhua News Agency)

The Pentagon on Monday announced a scheduled deployment of 33,000 troops to Iraq early next year as regular rotations.

The troops include four army brigades and two Marine regiments, the Pentagon said in a statement.

There are some 146,000 U.S. troops in Iraq right now and the number will drop to 142,000 by mid-July under the partial withdrawal plan announced by President George W. Bush early this year.

Gen. David Petraeus, who oversees all U.S. forces in the Middle East, said in May that he may recommend further troop reduction in September but it is condition-based.

Most analysts said Bush is likely to maintain a large troop presence in Iraq through January 2009, the end of his tenure.

But there are growing calls from within and outside the military to shift focus to Afghanistan, and Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, promised to start withdrawal immediately after he assumes the office of president ifhe wins this year's general election.

http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php?refid=DH-S-01-07-2008&article=33159

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Legislators speak of secret oil and gas agreement with Kurds

03 July 2008 (Azzaman)

The central government and the Kurdish authorities have signed a secret deal under which the Kurds are to extend their political autonomy over their oil riches, a senior member of parliament said.  Jaber Khaleefa of the parliament’s Oil and Gas Committee said the secret deal has allowed both sides to proceed ahead with contracts with foreign firms despite the lack of constitutional backing.  The parliament has failed to pass a draft and oil and gas law drawn to regularize the exploitation of the country’s oil wealth and the distribution of sales proceeds.

The draft has failed to draw the minimum majority necessary to turn it into law.  Opponents hoped that no concessions or deals with foreign firms would be made as long as it was not ratified.  But the sides have been signing deals despite the lack of necessary constitutional arrangements.  The Kurds have signed 17 such deals and the government has struck 35.  The parliament is asking for an oversight but the opponents lack the two-thirds majority needed to stop the deals.

As the flurry of oil development contracts goes, the sides have ratcheted up criticism of each other’s polices, apparently to detract criticism of their secret dealings, according to the legislators, who only spoke on condition of anonymity.  Kurdish authorities have branded central government’s deals as illegal while the central government says Kurdish deals are null and void.

Oil analysts say the oil contract rush and counter accusations signal lack of confidence, transparency and the existence of central authority in the country.

Oil development conditions are “very encouraging” in a country with reserves that are among the world’s largest, said one analyst.  The situation has encouraged other regions to mull signing their oil deals with foreign firms.  The analyst said foreign firms, with their own intelligence, were sending mixed signals to Iraq.

He said there were signs that some of the firms with deals with the central government in Baghdad had approached the provincial authorities in the southern city of Basra for separate contracts.  Iraq’s most prolific oil fields are situation in the province which is also home to some of the largest, yet undeveloped, fields in the world.

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Parliament calls for legislation to speed up oil and gas law

BAGHDAD - Iraq votes 06/23/2008 at 14:51:02

Deputy Chairman of the Committee on the oil and gas leadership in the Islamic Dawa Party, Abdul Hadi Hassan, Monday, to accelerate the legislation of the law of oil and gas to benefit from economic refunded, and expected to contribute to dialogues between the Governments of the Kurdistan region and the Centre reach the endorsement of the bill.

He said ABOLHASSANI of the Independent News Agency (Voices of Iraq) that "the law of oil and gas often delayed approval, so we hope to be completed soon to benefit from investment in oil and gas to obtain greater financial returns", expected to contribute to dialogues and discussions which took place between the Prime Minister of Territory Mosques Kurdistan Barzani, who is visiting Baghdad, between the Government Center to "expedite the ratification of the oil and gas."

Between ABOLHASSANI that "Iraq is losing the equivalent of (18) billion dollars annually from gas and waste which is burned without the benefit of it, so it is wrong that Iraq is not able to benefit from scientific efficiency of natural gas and investing."

The head of the Kurdistan Regional Government official visit to the capital Baghdad began last Saturday aiming to discuss oil contracts and the law of oil and gas and allocations Guard Territory (PESHMARGA).

It is noteworthy that the draft law of oil and gas, which is still in dispute between the Governments of the region and the Centre especially with regard to the conclusion of idleness oil, which stipulates that the ownership of oil and gas owned Iraqi people in all regions and governorates, the law applies to oil operations in all regions of Iraq. .. Including the earth and beneath the surface, as well as in inland waters and territorial waters.

The bill excluded from the scope areas of oil refining and gas processing and industrial uses, as well as storage, transport and distribution of petroleum products, and give the right of foreign firms to invest in the area of the oil sector of Iraq.

http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/article.tpl?IdLanguage=17&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=83376&NrIssue=1&NrSection=2

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Nouri al-Maliki: Iraq moving forward

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Tuesday his war-weary country has moved past its division s and has entered a new phase of national unity.

CNN reported Maliki made the remark in an address to diplomats from neighboring countries and around the world gathered for a meeting in Kuwait.

Iraq has passed its crises and divisions, Maliki was quoted as saying.

He added that Iraq has entered a new phase where the interest of the country transcends differences.

Also attending the meeting was U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, CNN reported.

Maliki urged the leaders of neighboring counties to take serious big steps to implement the decisions made at previous conferences.

He said a stable and safe Iraq will be in the interest of regional countries and the world.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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