Iraq

Gulf Cooperation Council interior ministers agree to joint support for regional and international efforts to combat the problem, voice support for Iraq and appeal to international community on behalf of Palestinians.

Fr. Nawzat P. Hanna was released yesterday after three days in captivity. Currently he is in safe keeping in the capital, but he bares marks of having been beaten. Baghdad’s auxiliary bishop: “Let u spray that these episodes do not happen again and that our priest finds the courage to remain in Iraq, to serve his Church”.

Msgr. Warduni confirms: “we are in constant contact with his abductors, and we are praying for his release”. Rumours, spread yesterday, of Fr Nawzat’s release are quashed. The priest is now in his third day of captivity. Meanwhile the Christian exodus from the capital continues: an NGO in Dora counts the remaining families and urges then not to flee.

Fr. Nawzat P. Hanna, parish priest of Mar Pithion, was abducted this morning in the capital’s al-Baladiyat quarter. Baghdad’s auxiliary bishop: “We will pray for his immediate release, but we will not submit to fear”. Local Christians warn of systematic plan by terrorists to “clean-up” the city quarter by quarter.

The ‘Islamic State in Iraq” appoints imam Hatym al-Rizeq as head of the al-Dora neighbourhood. From a local mosque he is asking Christians to pay 250,000 dinars in protection money. Only in the last week 14 more families have fled the area. In the meantime, a powerless government remains silent.

Teheran underscores that the meeting does not signal a change in policies but are aimed exclusively at the future of Iraq. The USA “the Iranians claim they want a stable Iraq, it’s time to put words into action”.

Support for the Saudi plan to resolve the conflict with Israel, safeguarding Lebanon’s sovereignty, Iran’s right to access nuclear technology for peaceful use, no to Muslim peacekeepers in Iraq, and self determination for Kashmir.

“Wolfie” will no longer head the international organisation at the end of June. This marks a victory for neo-Malthusian groups and the EU which was preparing an emergency resolution against him. Some regrets are expressed in Japan and elsewhere in Asia.

A wave of attacks in northern Iraq on the border with Kurdistan sets off alarm bells in the Kurdish region which had been hitherto spared the type of violence that prevails elsewhere. Locals complain about increasing impediments on movement like the growing number of checkpoints and controls. Kurdish government representative says attacks aim at undermining the only example of democracy and development in the area; he expects tensions to stay high till the end of the year when a vote over Kirkuk will take place. This issue tops Kurdistan’s agenda.

Neo-Malthusian organizations want to use World Bank money for abortions among pre-adolescents in the Third World. And they are against the reconstruction of Iraq and petroleum production. So as to set off a war for the control of energy resources and to reduce the world's population?

An attack in Arbil is a sign that threats to the security in the hitherto peaceful region are growing. Kurdish government deploys more men along the border with Iran in an attempt to stop possible infiltrations in support of the notorious terrorist group Ansar al-Islam.

The Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East and the Syrian-Orthodox Bishop of Aleppo said they were “moved” by the Chaldean Patriarch’s condemnation of Christian persecution in Iraq. They have urged Baghdad, the UN and international forces to “extinguish the flames in which all Iraqis are burning”. Mgr Gregotios Yohanna Ibrahim: “A plan is afoot to change the country’s social structure.”