MIDDLE EAST: Weekly round-up Number 29 for 1 - 7 July 2005

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

Key Humanitarian Developments in Iraq

Insecurity continued to be a major concern in Iraq with three insurgent attacks on foreign diplomats and over 30 people killed in mortar attacks, bombings and ambushes.

On Saturday, Egypt's new ambassador-designate to Iraq, Ihab al-Sherif, was kidnapped by gunmen after being in the country for only five weeks. The Egyptian government said al-Sherif had gone to Iraq to help people and pleaded with his kidnappers to treat him well. On Thursday however, the Egyptian government announced that they believed al-Sherif's kidnappers had murdered him.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan released a statement condemning the killing of the Egyptian envoy.

"The Secretary-General condemns in the strongest terms those who planned and executed this callous act, which no cause can justify," said the statement, which also expressed Annan's "deepest sympathy" and condolences to the family of al-Sherif as well as to the government and people of Egypt.

"Such acts perpetrated by a few will not deter the commitment and resolve of the United Nations and the international community to help the Iraqi people in their transition towards a peaceful, democratic and prosperous Iraq," the statement said.

The Bahraini and Pakistani envoys to Iraq were both attacked in separate incidents within hours on Tuesday by groups of gunmen in the upmarket Mansour district of the capital, Baghdad. The Bahraini envoy, Hassan Malallah al-Ansari, was travelling in his diplomatic car when at least two armed men tried to flag it down. They opened fire when he failed to stop, wounding him in the arm but he managed to drive to safety.

A short time later, Mohammad Younis Khan, the Pakistani envoy, was travelling in a convoy of vehicles that was raked by gunfire. His bodyguards returned fire and the vehicles managed to escape without any reported injury to the occupants.

"You know how dangerous and precarious the situation here in Baghdad is," he later commented to the BBC Urdu service.

Late on Thursday last week, the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) which considered financial claims following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, finished 12 years of deliberations. In the final three-day session, the UNCC awarded nearly US $367 million to successful claimants, bringing the total it has awarded to some $52.5 billion.

Approximately $19.2 billion dollars has been made available to successful claimants so far, with up to $200 million more to be available for distribution next month. Under a UN scheme the Iraqi government pays a 5 percent levy on oil revenues towards compensation payments but the deputy foreign minister, Mohammed Hamud Bidan, has called for an end to the arrangement, saying Iraq wishes to negotiate settlement of the claims instead.

The parliamentary committee drawing up a new constitution was joined by 15 more representatives of Iraq's Sunni Muslim community on Wednesday. The committee is due to complete their work on a draft constitution by mid-August and there had been concerns that the Sunni community remained under-represented within the group.

There had been only two Sunnis among the more than 50 members but the new representatives improve the balance between Sunnis, Shia and Kurds, increasing the Sunni representation to over 20 percent. The group remains under considerable pressure to complete deliberations by the 15 August deadline so that the new constitution can gain popular support in a referendum due in September, allowing for fresh elections by 15 December and a new government before the end of the year.

The European commissioner for external relations and European neighbourhood policy, Dr Benita Ferrero-Waldner, called the situation in Iraq 'impossible and unsustainable' for any country in an address to the European parliament on Wednesday.

She warned that the task of reconstruction was enormous and called on the international community to do more to reduce or reschedule Iraq’s debt, saying that the EU Commission would be pushing member states to lead by example. She said that the EU would open a delegation in Baghdad in the coming months as a sign of continuing commitment to the region.

CONTENTS:

IRAQ: Water supply held back by lack of investment and insurgency
IRAQ: Focus on illegal organ trade
IRAQ: Intellectuals call for caring constitution
IRAQ: Attacks on oil facilities cost US $12 billion
IRAQ: Acid attacks on "immodest" women on the rise
SYRIA: Raising HIV/AIDS awareness
YEMEN: Social impact of temporary marriages
YEMEN: Confirmed polio cases reach 300
EGYPT: New reports criticise restrictive NGO law

[ENDS]