Iraq seeks ties to Belgrade

Monday, March 29, 1999

LONDON [MENL] -- Yugoslavia has found one Muslim ally in its current battle with NATO over Kosovo -- Iraq.

Iraq has been the only Muslim country to have condemned the NATO air campaign against Yugoslav forces. At the same time, Western intelligence reports that Baghdad seeks aid from Yugoslavia to help refurbish Iraq's deteriorating military.

An Iraqi spokesman said Baghdad's condemnation came after a meeting of President Saddam Hussein and his leadership council. The spokesman said Yugoslavia has consistently supported the Arab cause.

"This aggressive and flagrant interference by the United States and NATO in a domestic affair of a sovereign country is unjustifiable regardless of the pretexts advanced to justify this interference," Iraqi radio quoted the spokesman as saying on Friday. "Iraq urges the peoples of the free world to stand against this aggression, which jeopardizes all peoples who are opposed to the U.S.-allied hegemony and blackmail."

"Since the Algerian revolution, during the 1967 Zionist aggression, and in similar circumstances," the spokesman added, "Yugoslavia has consistently supported Arab causes and backed the Arab nation when such support was badly needed, which requires the nation to recall this support and express opposition to the brute aggression targeting Yugoslavia."

On Sunday, the British newspaper, Sunday Telegraph, reported that Iraq wants Yugoslavia to upgrade Saddam's air defense systems. This, the newspaper said, includes the supply of SA-7 anti-aircraft missiles.

Earlier this month, the Telegraph said, a Yugoslav delegation of military experts, led by deputy Defense Minister Jovan Djukovic, visited Baghdad. This followed an earlier visit by Yugoslav chemical weapons expert, Ivan Ivanovich.

Western intelligence experts said Iraq is paying for Yugoslav products in oil, necessary to maintain Belgrade's war machine. The New York Times reported on Saturday that the latest deal between Baghdad and Belgrade was last month in a $22 million medicine-for-oil trade.

The Times said the principle company in the Yugoslav-Iraqi trade is Yugoimport, which deals primarily in weapons.