Fresh fighting broke out in Iraq yesterday despite the unveiling of the first post-Saddam Hussein government and a draft UN resolution setting out a rough timetable for the departure of US troops.
Eight Iraqis were killed and 23 wounded when clashes erupted between US forces and radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's militia in the holy cities of Najaf and nearby Kufa, south of Baghdad, as well as in the capital itself.
The fighting came after Iraq's new interim government was unveiled in Baghdad amid criticism that the US had tried to impose its will on the selection process.
PHOTO: AFP
UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who was supposed to play the central role in choosing the government, responded to the criticism yesterday by stressing that Washington's views could not be ignored.
"I don't think he'd mind my saying this: Bremer is the dictator of Iraq. He has the money, he has the signature," Brahimi said in reference to the US overseer in Iraq, Ambassador Paul Bremer.
The diplomat also warned that the coalition and new government would quickly have to work out the status of foreign troops in the nation beyond any UN Security Council resolution legitimizing their presence.
The heaviest combat overnight was in Kufa where five people were killed and 11 injured, while in Najaf three mortar shells killed one person and injured 12 close to a US military base, hospital sources said.
Two militiamen were killed in the capital's teeming Shiite district of Sadr City, the cleric's office here said.
Also in Baghdad, four people were killed and 34 wounded in a car bombing and a second blast, while three Filipino soldiers were wounded in an ambush south of the capital.
US President George W. Bush warned on Tuesday that the violence would continue ahead of the June 30 formal transfer of sovereignty from the US-led coalition to the appointed government, which was sworn in the same day.
But he also said the naming of the new Cabinet "brings us one step closer to realizing the dream of millions of Iraqis, a fully sovereign nation with a representative government that protects their rights and serves their needs."
Britain, the chief US ally in Iraq, claimed the interim leadership under prime minister Iyad Allawi would be the "most representative" in Iraq's history.
The EU, through its Irish presidency, wished the government "every success" while Russia expressed hope that it would be able to ensure security and rebuild the country's shattered infrastructure.
There was no immediate reaction from France and Germany, who opposed the US-led invasion which toppled president Saddam Hussein in April last year.
But Iran, part of the so-called "axis of evil" in the words of the US president, said it hoped the government was a "step toward a return to sovereignty."
In the Arab world, only Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan officially reacted to the government's nomination.
Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah and Bahrain King Hamad welcomed Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar's appointment as president and said they hoped to strengthen ties with Iraq's new leadership.
King Abdullah II of Jordan, in a congratulatory telegram to Yawar yesterday, said the government was "a step toward ending the occupation and the return of full sovereignty."
At the UN, changes were made to a Security Council resolution sponsored by Britain and the US to satisfy concerns that genuine sovereignty would be restored at the end of the month.
Under the new draft, the mandate of US-led troops who will remain in Iraq after this month would expire "upon completion of the political process" to create a constitutionally elected Iraqi government.
But with that expected to take until late next year or even early 2006, it was not immediately clear if the changes would satisfy opposition to the first text led by China, France and Germany.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS