MIDDLE EAST: Weekly round-up Number 3 for 1-7 January 2005

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

Key Humanitarian Developments in Iraq

The new year in Iraq started with more violence with the Governor of Baghdad being assassinated on Tuesday. Media reports said Ali al-Haidri was shot dead by gunmen in his car in the Iraqi capital.

This is the highest profile assassination in the country since May 2004, when the head of the now disbanded Governing Council, Izzadine Saleem, also known as Abdel-Zahraa Othman, was killed.

With only three weeks left until Iraqis go to the polls and amid some reports that there could be a low voter turn-out, the US announced that more than 35,000 of its troops would be out in force to boost security in Baghdad, before and during, the 30 January elections, a senior US general said.

There have been doubts cast over whether or not elections, to chose a 275-member National Assembly, can take place under the current security climate, with calls for a delay in the date from some Iraqi candidates.

"While insurgent activity in Baghdad will likely spike as the Iraqi people approach their elections and the insurgents become more desperate, we will continue to focus on providing an environment in which Iraqis can conduct their elections without insurgent interference," Major General Peter Chiarelli said at a news conference in Baghdad on Wednesday.

The number of US soldiers killed in Iraq is now more than 1,300, and the number of wounded is 10,200, according to the Pentagon.

The ballot will also fill seats of governorate councils in each of Iraq’s 18 provinces and voters in the Kurdish region will also be electing a Kurdistan National Assembly.

In addition, some expatriate Iraqis in 14 countries will be able to vote, supervised by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). An estimated one million Iraqis outside the country are eligible to vote.

In order to control the security situation in the run up to voting, Iraqi authorities announced on Thursday that the state of emergency which gives them special powers to fight insurgents would be extended for another month, according to a BBC report.

It was also reported this week that the Iraqi Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, sent a letter to Syria's Bashar al-Assad calling for the handover of Saddam loyalists who are disrupting security in Iraq. He explained that he did not mean that these elements were working with the approval of Damascus, according to media reports.

In other election related news, a meeting of foreign ministers from Iraq's neighbouring counties ended in the Jordanian capital on Thursday, urging all sections of Iraqi society to participate in the poll as well as stressing the importance of the UN in supporting the political process, a UN statement said.

Ashraf Qazi, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Iraq, told the meeting that the UN would continue to do whatever it could to support Iraq during the political transition.

Earlier, Qazi held separate bilateral talks with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Kuwait and Turkey, and with the head of Iran's delegation to the conference.

Meanwhile, a Peace Prize was awarded to murdered aid worker Margaret Hassan, who was abducted in Baghdad on 19 October. Although a video showing her apparent death was released by insurgents, her body was never found, the BBC reported.

Hassan worked for the Care International NGO and was given the Tipperary Peace Prize in Ireland for her charity work in Iraq. Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton were among previous prize recipients, the report said.

CONTENTS:

IRAQ: Policemen resigning due to insecurity and threats
IRAQ: Survey suggests widespread female circumcision in north
IRAQ: Special report on elections. Part I
IRAQ: Special report on elections. Part II
IRAQ: Humanitarian chronology 2004
IRAQ: Death toll in Fallujah rising, doctors say
SYRIA: Girls' school attendance in rural areas decreasing
SYRIA: Award given to child friendly village
SYRIA: Iraqis able to vote in upcoming poll

[ENDS]