Wednesday, March 21, 2007
INM daily summary – 21 March 2007
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- The vice-president of Iraq, Tareq al-Hashemi, has called for talks to be opened with the country's insurgents in an attempt to bring peace, with the exception of Al Qaeda.
- Hundreds of mourners attended the burial of Saddam Hussein’s former vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan in Ouja where Saddam Hussein, his sons and two other executed deputies were buried.
- The U.S department for Foreign Affairs is considering creating a safe haven or self-administrative zone for Iraq’s minorities, such as Assyrians, in Ninevah.
- Iraqi expats are stranded as in 2005 the new Iraqi government issued instructions to all immigration authorities that passports issued under the Saddam government, known as the N-series, and passports issued after the war, known as the S-series, would no longer be recognised. These were to be replaced by a new document, carrying a letter 'G', and would be the only officially recognized travel document, but these never reached Iraq's consulates abroad.
- Work has started on a US$ 11 million dam to be built in Al-Anbar for nomads.
- ArmorGroup's profit fell sharply last year after the armed security provider failed to win new contracts for the Camp Ghassan training camp facility.
- An affiliate of MEK, Alireza Jafarzadeh, and head of a Washington-based think tank called Strategic Policy Consulting Inc. says Iraqi Shiite death squads are being trained in more than half a dozen secret camps in Iran with the blessing of top Tehran government leaders and at least three senior Iraqi political figures.
- UNHCR will hold an international conference on addressing the humanitarian needs of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons inside Iraq and in neighbouring countries on 17-18 April, 2007 in Palais des Nations, Geneva.
- Israeli Elbit Systems said their small pilotless planes, “Skylarks”, are gathering intelligence for US-led forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
