IRAQ CRISIS: Weekly round-up Number 74 for 7-13 August

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

Key Humanitarian Developments:

Iraqi officials and aides to a radical Shiite cleric negotiated on Friday to end fighting that has raged in the holy city of Najaf for nine days, after US forces suspended an offensive against Muqtada al-Sadr's militia, officials said. The fighting has led to an unknown number of civilian casualties. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Thursday some three mt of medical supplies and at least five ambulances had been sent into the city centre to ferry wounded civilians out.

Between 25,000 and 50,000 Najaf residents have been forced to flee their homes to escape the sporadic fighting and seek water and power that have been in short supply. With the talks ongoing, the US military said that it had suspended offensive operations against al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, who are holed up the city's vast cemetery and the Imam Ali shrine, one of the holiest sites to Shiite Muslims.

Sporadic fighting has continued in other Iraqi cities as religious militants take on US and British forces as well as Iraqi police and army units.

Reacting to widespread fighting in Iraq in recent days, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for a peaceful solution on Sunday, pledging the world body's help towards this end. A spokesman for Annan issued a statement voicing extreme concern at the violence, especially in the holy city of Najaf.

The Secretary-General "is particularly troubled by the high toll of dead and wounded, including civilian casualties," the spokesman said. The statement, released in New York, emphasised that force should be a last resort and called for "every effort to be made, even at this late hour, to work out a ceasefire and peaceful solution."

As the UN helps Iraq to prepare for its National Conference, due to begin on Sunday, the spokesman said that event could be an important step in a peaceful and inclusive political transition, by promoting national reconciliation and dialogue. "The United Nations is ready to extend its facilitating role to the current crisis, if this would be helpful." A thousand delegates are to meet at the national conference to choose a special council. It will monitor the activities of the interim government and serve as a watchdog. The statement also called Prime Minister Allawi's offer of a limited amnesty and wider participation in the political process "steps in the right direction."

On Thursday, the UN Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) for a further 12 months. The decision reaffirmed that the world body should play a leading role in assisting the Iraqi people and government in the formation of institutions for representative government. The Council also expressed its intention to review the Mission's mandate in one year or sooner, if requested by Iraq's government.

But staff security remains the overriding constraint for all United Nations operations in Iraq, Annan said in a new report this week to the Security Council on the work of the UN mission in the country. With the risk to UN personnel in Iraq categorised as "high to critical," UNAMI and UN agencies will continue to limit their activities inside Iraq to the essential tasks, according to the report.

The Secretary-General said his new Special Representative for Iraq, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, will focus on helping the country's people to implement the proposed transitional timetable leading to the establishment of a constitutionally elected government by the end of 2005. To this end, Qazi will work closely with the Iraqi authorities, political entities and civil society.

Meanwhile, the risk to foreigners working inside the country continued this week. A British journalist, James Brandon, was kidnapped from the hotel where he was staying in the southern city of Basra late on Thursday night. His masked captors said he would be executed within 24 hours unless the US-led siege of the holy city of Najaf was brought to an end.

A Jordanian businessman kidnapped in Iraq this week is alive and well after a ransom was paid, his son told The Associated Press on Friday. Jamal Sadeq al-Salaymeh ``is safe and is expected to return home soon,'' said his son, Sameh Jamal al-Salaymeh. He declined to give the size of the ransom paid. Al-Salaymeh, who works for a Japanese firm, was kidnapped on Monday from his home on the outskirts of Baghdad.

On Monday the Iranian embassy in Baghdad confirmed one of its diplomats had been kidnapped in Iraq. The embassy said Fereidoun Jahani had been seized the previous Wednesday as he travelled from Baghdad to the Shiite Muslim holy city of Karbala, in central Iraq. He had been due to start work there as the Iranian consul.

CONTENTS:

IRAQ: AI criticises reinstatement of death penalty
IRAQ: Medical supplies delivered to Najaf as fighting continues
IRAQ: Mine awareness summer school for children
IRAQ: Focus on increasing threats against journalists
IRAQ: Najaf residents flee fighting as aid agencies move in
IRAQ: NGO efforts boost democracy and civil society in north
IRAQ: Students given access to Internet
IRAQ: Increasing numbers of Syrian Kurdish refugees in north

[ENDS]