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IRAQ WARS
Iraqi foreign minister set to visit Turkey: diplomat
by Staff Writers
Ankara (AFP) Oct 11, 2011


Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari will visit Turkey on Wednesday for talks on stopping recent surging attacks by Kurdish rebels which have prompting Ankara to consider a land operation, a senior Turkish diplomat said.

"The Iraqi foreign minister will be in Turkey on Wednesday and Thursday upon our invitation as part of a working visit," the diplomat told AFP speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The fight against terrorism will figure high on the agenda of the talks," he added.

Turkey's parliament extended on October 5 the government's mandate to order military strikes against Kurdish rebels holed up in neighboring Iraq.

A surge of attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) also targeting civilians are piling pressure on Ankara, which has threatened to launch an incursion into northern Iraq by its land forces to root out rebel bases.

Turkey repeatedly calls on the Iraqi government not to allow its territory to be used as a springboard by the PKK for attacks in Turkey, and if not threatens to continue strikes.

Turkish warplanes have bombed rebel bases in northern Iraq several times since August, killing between 145 and 160 rebels, according to the general staff.

The air strikes have threathened relations with neighbouring Iraq, which summoned Turkey's ambassador in August to demand an immediate end to the attacks after it was alleged that Turkish bombings killed civillians.

Turkey rejected the allegations.

Zebari, a Kurd himself, is expected to hold a press conference with his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu.

The situation at a UN-run camp at Makhmour in the north of Iraq is expected to be on the agenda of the meetings with Zebari, said the diplomat.

Turkey has long been pressing for the closure of Makhmour, charging that the camp is controlled by the PKK and serves as a supply base of fresh militants to the organization.

"This is an issue which is always on our agenda," said the diplomat.

Zebari is also expected to attend the inauguration of the Iraqi consulate in Gaziantep province, near the Syrian border.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, took up arms in Kurdish-majority southeast Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives.

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Corruption hampering power provision: Iraq speaker
London (AFP) Oct 11, 2011 - Corruption has spread through the Iraqi government "like an octopus" and is hampering electricity provision, parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi said on Tuesday.

Nujaifi said that corrupt "mafias" were an impediment to political reform and progress in the country, and noted that the electricity sector in Iraq was "rife with corruption."

"There are also the corruption mafias that seem to spread through the establishment like an octopus," Nujaifi said at a conference at the International Institute of Strategic Studies, according to an English translation of his Arabic remarks provided by the think tank.

"Those mafias are the biggest impediment to political reform and to any political progress being made."

Nujaifi did not elaborate on what he meant by "mafias," but pointed to corruption as the reason for a lack of progress in electricity provision, more than eight years after a US-led invasion overthrew Saddam Hussein.

Iraqi households still receive only a few hours of government-supplied power, and must use communal and private generators to fill the gaps.

The shortfall is particularly acute during Iraq's scorching summer, when temperatures top 50 degrees Celsius in much of the country, and air conditioners and fridges need to run constantly.

"After all this time, and without any traces of accountability, there is no question that there is an incredible amount of shortcoming," Nujaifi said, responding to a question regarding the power supply.

"In fact, there is a government failure in handling this particular dossier, and the main reason is corruption. This particular sector is rife with corruption."

Iraq on Monday named a new electricity minister, Abdulkarim Aftan, after the previous minister, Raad Shallal al-Ani, was fired over the summer for approving more than $2 billion in allegedly improper contracts.

Ani's dismissal came little more than a year after his predecessor resigned amid protests over poor electricity provision.

"There has to be a transparent and a clean administration of this particular sector," Nujaifi said. "There can be no question that this is a great area of failure."



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