Iraq hunting $17 billion missing after US invasion

Iraq's parliament is chasing about $17 billion of Iraqi oil money it says was stolen after the 2003 US-led invasion and has asked the United Nations for help to track it down.

The missing money was shipped to Iraq from the United States to help with reconstruction after the ouster of Saddam Hussein.

In a letter to the UN office in Baghdad last month, parliament's Integrity Committee asked for help to find and recover the oil money taken from the Development Fund of Iraq (DFI) in 2004 and lost in the chaos that followed the invasion.

"All indications are that the institutions of the United States of America committed financial corruption by stealing the money of the Iraqi people, which was allocated to develop Iraq, (and) that it was about $17 billion," said the letter sent to the UN with a 50-page report.
The committee called the disappearance of the money a "financial crime" but said UN Security Council resolutions prevent Iraq from making a claim against the United States.

"Our committee decided to send this issue to you ... to look into it and restore the stolen money," said the letter.

UN officials were not immediately available for comment.

SALARIES, PENSIONS

The DFI was established in 2003 at the request of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the US body headed by Paul Bremer that governed Iraq after the invasion. The fund was to be used to pay the salaries and pensions of Iraqi government workers and for reconstruction projects.

In 2004, the administration of former US President George W Bush flew billions of dollars in cash into Iraq. The money came from the sale of Iraqi oil, surplus funds from the UN oil-for-food program and seized Iraqi assets.

Last July, an audit report from the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) said the US Department of Defense was unable to account properly for $8.7 billion of Iraqi oil and gas money after the 2003 invasion.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Al Jazeera television on Sunday: "No one on the Iraqi side was controlling the work of Paul Bremer at that time. So I think the administration of the United States needs to give the answers for where and how this (money) was being used.

"We do understand that Iraqis are also engaged in such lack of transparency and corruption related to the Paul Bremer time in Iraq," he added.

Osama al-Nujaifi, Iraq's parliament speaker, said a committee was investigating what happened to some $20 billion of DFI money.

"Some of these funds were spent and are documented. But some do not have such documents," he said. "We as a parliament are working together with the Iraqi Board of Supreme Audits and with coordination of SIGIR to know where this money ended up."

The appeal to the United Nations could help Iraq recover its money by putting its case before the international community, said Bahaa al-Araji, the head of the Integrity Committee.

"We cannot sue the Americans. Laws do not allow us to do that. All we want is to get this issue to the UN," Araji said. "If this works, it will open the way for Iraq to restore its stolen money." In 2003, the CPA issued an order granting immunity to US personnel and institutions working in Iraq.

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Thousands protest in Morocco for more reform

 

 

  Several thousand people marched through Morocco's biggest city Sunday to protest that constitutional reforms unveiled this week by King Mohammed have not gone far enough.

After some of the biggest protests in decades -- inspired in part by the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- the monarch announced on Friday he would devolve some of his powers to parliament and the government and put the reforms to a referendum on July 1.

Under the changes, the king would retain his hold on security, the army and religion. That disappointed some opponents who had wanted to see the monarch hand over all his executive powers to elected officials.

"We are here to reject the proposed constitution," said Aziz Yaakoubi, one of the organisers of Sunday's protest in Casablanca, Morocco's commercial capital.

"It keeps all the powers in the hands of the king. He refused to listen to the street."

Protesters marched through Casablanca's working class Derb Sultan district carrying placards that read: "No to a constitution made for slaves!" and "No to a constitution of dictatorship!"

About 10,000 people took part in the protest, according to a Reuters reporter at the event, while about 500 pro-monarchy activists gathered for a nearby counter-demonstration.

Organisers of the opposition demonstration said 20,000 people took part.

A government official, who did not want to be identified, said 2,500 people took part in the opposition protest and that most of them were members of a banned Islamist group. The official also said the pro-monarchy counter-protest was attended by 70,000 people.

Most Moroccans revere the monarch and months of protests demanding he give up his executive powers have failed to win the sort of popular support that toppled long-standing leaders earlier this year in Tunisia and Egypt.

The moves by King Mohammed, who heads the Arab world's longest-serving dynasty, are being closely monitored by Gulf Arab monarchies which are also facing calls for reform.

Before the march got underway, several dozen young men carrying the Moroccan flag, sticks and broken bottles charged the protesters. Activists blocked their way and the confrontation was defused.

There was a light police presence and the march ended without any violence.

The referendum is likely to endorse the monarch's reforms. Some people at Sunday's protest, organised by the February 20 opposition movement, called for a boycott of the vote.

Some of the demonstrators chanted: "Moroccans, the referendum is a charade!" and "We are not voting for a constitution we don't agree to!"

"The king introduced cosmetic changes that actually strengthen his grip over the decision-making process," said Abderrahim Tafnout of the Unified Socialist Party, which has two seats in parliament.

There were also protests organised by the February 20 movement Sunday in other cities including Tangier and Rabat, but figures on how many people took part were not immediately available.

 

 

 

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Syria's Assad blames unrest on saboteurs, pledges reforms

 

  Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Monday "saboteurs" were behind unrest against his rule and that political accommodation could not be reached with gunmen.

In just his third speech since the demonstrations began four months ago, Assad appeared tense as he pledged to pursue a national dialogue on reform and held out the prospect of expanding a recent amnesty.

But he said: "We have to distinguish between (protesters, and others who have legitimate demands) and saboteurs. The saboteurs are a small group that tried to exploit the kind majority of the Syrian people to carry out their many schemes."

No political solution was possible with people carrying weapons, he said.

As Syrian forces swept through the northwestern border region with Turkey, blocking refugees fleeing a military crackdown, Assad called on the 10,000 who have already crossed the frontier to come home.

"There are those who give them the impression that the state will exact revenge, I affirm that is not true. The army is there for security," he said in the speech at Damascus University.

A committee on national dialogue will meet in the next few days and invite more than 100 personalities to discuss the criteria and mechanism for constitutional reform, he said. He set a one-month target date for presenting recommendations.

Syria's military operation along the Turkish border follows the biggest protests in four months of anti-Assad unrest on Friday which a violent clampdown has failed to quash.

Security forces shot dead up to 19 protesters on Friday, rights groups said.

In addition to the more than 10,000 Syrian refugees now in Turkey, a further 10,000 are sheltering close to the border just inside Syria in the olive groves and rich farmland around the town of Jisr al-Shughour, Turkish officials said.

But Syrian human rights campaigner Ammar al-Qurabi said the army was now stopping those still inside Syria from leaving.

"The Syrian army has spread around the border area to prevent frightened residents from fleeing across the border to Turkey," he told.

Qurabi also accused pro-government forces of attacking people trying to aid the refugees as they fled.

The violence so close to its border challenges Turkey's foreign policy of "zero problems with neighbors" that has seen it befriend the Middle East's autocratic rulers while presenting itself as a champion of democracy.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey has pledged to keep his borders open to refugees and has called the Syrian government crackdown "savagery," but beyond words, it is not clear whether Ankara's rapprochement with Damascus has earned Turkey any influence with Assad to halt the violence.

REFUGEES "FEAR GETTING SHOT"

Syrian troops and gunmen loyal to Assad seized the town of Bdama, only 2 km (1.2 miles) from Turkey on Saturday, burning houses and arresting dozens, witnesses said.

"There are roadblocks everywhere in Bdama to prevent people from fleeing but villagers are finding other routes through valleys to escape to the Turkish border," said Omar, a farmer from Bdama who managed to reach the border area.

"We received no bread today. There was one bakery operating in Bdama but it has been forced to shut. The 'shabbiha' (Assad's gunmen) are shooting randomly," one refugee, a carpenter who gave his name as Hammoud, told Reuters by telephone.

"One man in Bdama was injured today and we managed to smuggle him to hospital in Turkey. But many fear getting shot if they attempt to cross the border," the refugee added.

Faced with troops firing live ammunition, Syrian protesters have taken to venting their anger against Assad at night.

Demonstrations erupted overnight in the cities of Hama, Homs, Latakia, Deir al-Zor, the town of Madaya near the Lebanese border, several suburbs of the capital Damascus and in Albu Kamal on the border with Iraq, witnesses and activists said.

Authorities blame the violence on armed groups and Islamists, backed by foreign powers. Syria has barred most international journalists from entering the country, making it difficult to verify accounts from activists and officials.

Syrian rights groups say at least 1,300 civilians have been killed and 10,000 people detained since March.

The Syrian Observatory for human rights has said more than 300 soldiers and police have also been killed. Other rights campaigners said dozens of security personnel had been killed by loyalist troops for refusing to shoot at unarmed civilians.

Even so, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev practically ruled out supporting a UN resolution condemning Syria's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

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China to boost coastal forces amid tensions

  China will boost offshore surveillance by adding ships and 6,000 personnel by 2020, state media said on Friday, another move likely to raise tensions with neighbours staking rival claims to waters thought to hold vast reserves of oil and gas.



The expansion of the China Maritime Surveillance Forces, a paramilitary law enforcement agency that patrols China's territorial waters, was unveiled two days after the country sent its largest civilian maritime patrol ship to the South China Sea.

The moves show Beijing's resolve to protect its "maritime rights and sovereignty" which it says have been increasingly violated amid a rising frequency of disputes.

The maritime surveillance forces, under the State Oceanic Administration, will have 16 aircraft and 350 vessels by the end of the country's five-year plan ending in 2015, and more than 15,000 personnel by 2020, the official China Daily said citing an unnamed senior official.

"There have been an increasing number of intrusions by foreign vessels and planes into Chinese waters and airspace in recent years,"

It said that the maritime surveillance forces had logged 1,303 foreign ships and 214 planes intruding in 2010, compared to a total of 110 cases in 2007.

Tensions in the South China Sea have risen in the past month on concerns China is becoming more assertive in the waters, parts of which are also claimed by the Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

China's claim is by far the largest, forming a large U-shape over most of the sea's 648,000 square miles (1.7 million square km), including the Spratly and Paracel archipelagos.

This week, Beijing warned outside countries not to step into the dispute, after Vietnam said other countries, including the United States, could help defuse the tension.

China has accused Vietnam of violating its claim to the Spratlys and nearby seas, which Vietnam also deems its own. China calls the islands the Nansha group.

Beijing said last week it would hold naval drills in June in the western Pacific Ocean and the navy has done little to disguise plans to launch its first aircraft carrier.

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