Iraqi Transport Minister Ahmad Murtada demanded Saturday, August 25, that Amman hand over six of its commercial airliners grounded in Jordan since the 1991 Gulf war. "Iraq demands the restitution of the planes which have been stationed in Jordanian airports for more than 10 years", Murtada said in a meeting in Baghdad with his Jordanian counterpart Nadir Al-Zahabi, quoted by the state INA news agency.
A number of national Iraqi Airways planes were grounded since the Gulf War at Jordanian, Tunisian and Iranian airports to avoid their destruction during the conflict, which saw an US-led coalition oust Iraqi troops from Kuwait after seven months of occupation.
"The presence of these planes in Jordan requires enormous maintenance spending", Murtada said, adding that "there was no UN Security Council decision allowing to seize the aircrafts".
In November of last year, Jordan's Information Minister Talib Rifai said his country was ready to hand the planes over and that "the only obstacle was a technical one". An official had estimated the cost of the necessary technical upgrading at around $14 million, prompting Jordan to demand an agreement with Baghdad prior to the handover of the planes.
Al-Zahabi arrived in Baghdad Friday night with four other Jordanian ministers for a visit aimed at developing relations between Iraq and Jordan. ― (AFP, Baghdad)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
