Thousands of Palestinians to lose citizenship: Lebanese minister

BEIRUT, May 10 (AFP) - Lebanese Interior Minister Elias Murr has announced plans to strip thousands of mainly Palestinians of the Lebanese citizenship which he said they obtained fraudulently, media reports said Saturday. "We will annul the citizenships of all the Palestinians who do not deserve it ... and who falsified documents and submitted thousands of applications in order to obtain it," Murr said on television late Friday in remarks carried by local press reports. "All those who don't deserve it will lose their Lebanese citizenship," the interior minister said, citing namely "people who were in prison" when they obtained the nationality.

On Thursday, Lebanon's constitutional council asked the interior ministry to strip the citizenship of tens of thousands of Palestinians and Syrians naturalized in 1994 under an official decree. The council -- a 10-member body which checks if laws are in line with the constitution -- issued a unanimous ruling on a petition presented by the Maronite League challenging the legality of the naturalizations.

Murr said the Lebanese people had been waiting for the ruling for nearly 10 years, adding that the 1994 decree "triggered an imbalance and constituted a dangerous precedent" by granting citizenship to Palestinians. He was referring to concerns among Lebanon's Christians, who constitute roughly one third of the population, that the naturalizations alter the country's demographic balance, most of those naturalized being Muslims.

Lebanon is home to around 380,000 Palestinian refugees who under the constitution do not qualify for citizenship. Murr said that Lebanese President Emile Lahoud "is opposed to the integration of Palestinians and favors their right to return" to the homes they lost in 1948 during the Arab-Israeli war. Murr said a commission will be set up next week to investigate the files of 200,000 people who obtained citizenship in 1994 -- a task which he expected to take "months and not years."

For his part, Muslim MP Mohammed Yahia warned against "the very dangerous repercussions of this decision on naturalizations." The Maronite League groups leading figures of this Christian community in Lebanon.

Khatami expected in Beirut amid US pressure to ditch Hezbollah

by Pascal Mallet

BEIRUT, May 10 (AFP) - Iranian President Mohammad Khatami is expected here Monday for a three-day visit as his country, Lebanon and Syria face strong US pressure to halt support for the hardline Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement. Khatami is set to be the first Iranian head of state to visit Lebanon since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Tehran, prompting an Iranian diplomat to note that the visit "demonstrates the excellent relations between the two countries."

A trip planned for September was delayed amid the US push for a war on Iraq. Washington has accused Iran of belonging to an "axis of evil" along with North Korea and the regime of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. Since ousting Saddam last month, the United States has also ramped up pressure on Syria, accusing Damascus of holding chemical weapons and aiding dignitaries of Saddam's regime. Washingon has longed bashed Syria and Iran's backing of anti-Israeli groups like Hezbollah.

US troops are now stationed smack in between Iran and Syria and are watching both closely. Khatami is expected to meet with the leadership of Hezbollah, which has benefited from Iran's political and military patronage since its creation in 1982.

Lebanon was urged on May 3 by the US Secretary of State Colin Powell to deploy troops along its border with Israel to hamper Hezbollah fighters, and against that backdrop, Khatami's visit has been termed "historic" by Lebanese media.

Iran, Lebanon and Syria must find a response to the internationally-drafted "roadmap" for the Middle East that Washington hopes will give new life to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. But Tehran is also concerned with the situation faced by Shiite Muslims in Lebanon.

Hezbollah is the dominant force in southern Lebanon since the Israeli army ended its 22-year occupation of the region in May 2000. It has had two brief artillery duels with Israeli forces there since April 2002, and Washington has insisted it be brought under control, while the United Nations has called for "de facto forces" in southern Lebanon to withdraw.

Hezbollah, however, is a full-fledged political party in Lebanon, despite refusing to renounce armed opposition as long as Israeli troops occupy the disputed Shebaa Farms, a region seized from Syria in the 1967 war. Beirut considers Hezbollah a "resistance" movement rather than a terrorist group, and its head, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, said Thursday Hezbollah will not abandon the cause of resisting Israeli "occupation", rejecting US pressure on Iran and Syria to disarm it. "I will never sell out my religion or my ideology," Hezbollah's chief told the Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera.

Meanwhile, Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri's rival Shiite movement, Amal, has urged its members to give Khatami a warm welcome.   Accompanied by around 100 people, the Iranian president was to hold "watershed talks" with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud during the visit, the official news agency IRNA quoted Iran's ambassador in Beirut as saying late last month.

Meetings with Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and Berri are also planned. On Tuesday, Khatami is to make a major address at a stadium south of Beirut. Other talks could be held with Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, patriarch of the Lebanese Christian Maronite church.

The Iranian president, whose moderate position has won him two terms, espouses dialogue between civilisations and sees Lebanon as a possible model.

Iraqi health chief refuses to disavow Baath party

by Dan Beaulieu

BAGHDAD, May 10 (AFP) - Iraq's controversial US-appointed interim health chief caused a firestorm on Saturday when he refused to publicly renounce membership in the Baath party of former strongman Saddam Hussein. Ali Shnan al-Janabi, a senior Baath member under Saddam, skipped out the back door of the health ministry after a heated press conference at which he was asked to confirm a pledge he had signed denouncing the party.

"The coalition forces have dissolved the Baath party. I've signed a paper renouncing my membership and we are following the new orders diligently," he said following a meeting on Iraq's battered health sector attended by more than 200 health professionals.

But when asked point-blank to renounce the Baath party, he refused. "I say that question is incorrect. Maybe I don't understand the question," he said. An intense focus has developed on Iraq's health care system, which aid agencies say is in a critical state. Many Iraqi hospitals were either damaged in the US-led bombing campaign or during a wave of looting that followed Saddam's downfall a month ago.

They were also badly affected by a dozen years of crippling UN sanctions, although the health ministry has been accused of adding to the problem through corruption and mismanagement of hospitals to the point that patients died needlessly.

The senior advisor to the ministry from the US Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) for post-war Iraq, Stephen Browning, defended Janabi's appointment to the sensitive post. He hailed "significant" reforms the temporary health chief announced at the meeting, especially measures to allow Iraqi doctors to practice more freely.

He said Janabi was named by doctors both inside and outside Iraq, as well as by groups such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, as "a respected and courageous doctor and administrator." "When I asked people about Dr. Ali Shnan's character they assured me he was the man for the position," he said.

But he added of any ministry employees not ready to denounce the former ruling party: "We certainly don't want them to serve." "I can only say that (Janabi) signed a sworn statement saying he renounced the Baath party," Browning said.

He also announced a private Iraqi company would start providing former soldiers to guard the health ministry, which was badly looted. Other private contractors would be hired to protect hospitals, some of which are currently being guarded by US army troops. He added that religious Shiite Muslims in control of several Baghdad hospitals, in particular those in the teeming Shiite slum of Sadr City, will be asked to turn them over peacefully.

The US advisor said everyone who wanted to work with the health ministry would have to sign the anti-Baath pledge -- the first of its kind -- and that he was encouraging other ministries to draw up similar documents. US officials have repeatedly said Baath party membership would not automatically disqualify people from jobs in post-war Iraq, and that the backgrounds of many who have already resumed work were still being checked.

"Under the old regime it was part of your identity, we had to be part of the party. I'm not an active member of the Baath party anymore," Janabi told the press conference. "But if you ask someone to change their personal ideology that is something different," he said.

Janabi, an optometrist, also denied accusations he was involved in corruption at the ministry where he had formerly held the number three position. Hundreds of Iraqi doctors, nurses and health workers staged a demonstration in Baghdad Thursday against the US decision to appoint Janabi.

A representative of 18 hospitals in the Baghdad area attending the meeting, Khader al-Falluji, left little doubt about his feelings at the appointment. "I'm not going to give you a personal opinion," he said.

In another sign of unhappiness with the way the ministry had been run, stark black graffiti was painted on a wall outside the building which read: "We want a new health ministry. Clean the corrupted system." The Baath party boasted millions of members and controlled every aspect of  life in the country, where it seized power in 1968.

Iraq's cash-poor civil servants receive 20-dollar handout from US

by Marc Carnegie

BAGHDAD, May 10 (AFP) - US officials in Baghdad handed out tens of  thousands more dollars on Saturday to Iraq's cash-strapped civil servants, who have not seen a paycheck in almost two months. Staffers at government ministries across the city queued for hours to get their 20 dollar payment, a one-time emergency measure that the United States hopes will ease the cash crunch and kickstart Iraq's post-war economy.

"It's a small gesture and we hope it will have a positive message," said Donald Campbell, one of the new US-appointed advisors to the Iraqi courts, after giving justice ministry officials more than 50,000 dollars in cash. But most said the handout, which represents less than half the monthly salary that senior staffers were receiving under Saddam Hussein, would not go far.

"I had to pay for a taxi to come here and I'll have to pay to go back," said Iman Abed  Ali, a social worker and widow, who collected her payment at the labour ministry. "This really isn't very much." The programme was launched in April as the United States tries to ease the burden on the public sector workers essential for getting Iraq's rebuilding process on track.

Most civil servants were last paid in March before the US-led war was launched to bring down Saddam. With no government in place now, and prices of  many staples spiralling in the post-war chaos, many are feeling the pinch.

"Most of the people here haven't been paid in two months," said Jinan Sakamin, a mid-level manager in Iraq's state telecommunications sector, as hundreds pressed against barbed wire erected by US troops to get their cash. "They are getting very anxious because the money isn't enough."

Karen Walsh, the senior US advisor to the labour and social affairs ministry, said the money was coming from assets of Saddam's regime which have been frozen by the US-led coalition. "The aim is giving people power to spend, which gives them security," said Walsh, who indicated that a plan to expand the payments outside Baghdad and into the provinces would be spelled out on Tuesday.

Officials went to key ministries with vast stacks of 20 dollar bills to be distributed, and Iraqi officials said the handouts would likely continue on Sunday in many places. "This is just a fraction of my old salary," said Iman Mahmud, a staffer at the planning ministry, which oversees Iraq's largely state-run economy. "But it's better than nothing."

Most civil servants still have no jobs to go to. Many ministries were bombed by coalition warplanes, and almost all of them were badly looted in the anarchy that swept the capital after Saddam's fall. The 20 dollars is only a stop-gap measure and many are unsure when their regular pay will resume.

"We have the money for the salaries," said Aaed al-Sultan, a senior director at the labour ministry. "But we are waiting to get the ministry up and running again before we can pay the staff." US administrators have yet to determine the salary grades for the majority, but at least some will be in for a shock.

One of the great perks for civil servants under the old regime, the so-called "Saddam bonus", is gone forever. Baath Party members loyal to the former Iraqi leader used to see their paychecks fattened by between 25 and 50 dollars every month, as a reward for their dedication to the regime. For some, it doubled their take-home pay.

"The Saddam bonuses that they used to get are finished," said Simon Elvy, the new US advisor to the planning ministry. "The emphasis now must be on productivity, the people's qualification, their ability to do the job."

Hakim outlines vision of "elected and modern" Islam-based Iraq government

BASRA, Iraq, May 10 (AFP) - Iraq's most prominent Shiite Muslim leader said  on Saturday the country's future government should be a freely elected one that "respects Islam" and upholds unity while recognizing the rights of the various Iraqi ethnic and religious groups.

At a lengthy news conference after his return to this southern city from 23 years in Iranian exile, the head of the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI), Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, emphasised that the Iraqi state he envisages would be a "modern" one.

The 66-year-old cleric declared his model state would display tolerance toward the country's mosaic of ethnic and religious groups. Following the US-led ouster of Saddam Hussein's "dictatorship," Iraq should have a system of governance with five characteristics, said Hakim, whose news conference effectively turned into a speech interrupted by religious chants from the crowd.

The first is freedom, and while "one of the gains" of the US-led war was the "measure of freedom" which the Iraqis now enjoyed, freedom in the presence of foreign forces could not be total, he said. Iraq's future government should be "based on the will of the Iraqi people," that is it should be elected by them -- "democratic if you will," Hakim said.

Thirdly, Iraq should have a system of government that "respects Islam, the religion of the overwhelming majority of the Iraqi people." Islam should be Iraq's official religion, and sharia, or Islamic law, should be a "main source" of legislation, the greying cleric said, stressing that the future regime should "respect Islamic values."   It is unacceptable, for instance, "for prostitution to be a trade, or an honest profession ... as it is in European countries," he said.

At the same time, the fourth characteristic of Iraq's future government should be "respect for the specificities of the components of the Iraqi population" -- a mixture of Shiites, Sunni Muslims, Christians, Kurds, Turkomen and others. Finally, the future government should embody the unity of Iraq in terms of  people and land, he said.

Hakim said that while some of the slogans he raises might be perceived as "religious," he envisaged a "modern state, in the full sense of the word" in line with what he called Islam's reformist tradition. In such a state, women, "who make up half of society," would play their full role and young people's "potential would be exploited to the highest degree."

A modern state would "promote construction and development," said Hakim. And with its formidable human and economic resources and long history, Iraq had the potential to turn into a "great" country given the proper government. Iraq's Shiites, who make up "around 65 percent" of the 25-million population, were committed to their Shiism without being "sectarian," he said. "If we want to be really united, we must say (plainly that there) are Sunnis and Shiites ... (But) we must unite on major issues," said Hakim, taking a swipe at "some Salafi (Sunni) schools" hostile to the Shiites. "We reject extremism, and we also reject some Salafi schools ... hostile to other Muslims," Hakim said.

The Shiite leader, whose group is looked on with suspicion by the United States for its Iranian links, reiterated SAIRI's longstanding argument that the US-led war was not necessary because the Iraqi people could have toppled Saddam if they had received adequate "assistance from the international community."

However, he issued a sweeping indictment of the former regime, whose dictatorial nature not only surpassed that of other autocratic regimes in the Arab and Islamic world but whose "racism" was no less than that of the former apartheid regime in South Africa.

Hakim accused Saddam's regime of "genocide" against the Kurds, thousands of whom had been exterminated in chemical attacks. He charged that genocidal policies had been applied not only against minority groups but also against the majority Shiite population.

Hakim hailed Shiite religious authorities, based in the holy city of Najaf, his birthplace, for having "diagnosed" the nature of the Baath Party regime in its early days, and also paid tribute to predominantly Shiite Basra for the "sacrifices" it had offered in fighting the regime.