Iraq PM starts historic Kuwait visit as Jordanian hostages set to be free

Published July 31st, 2004 - 02:00 GMT
Al Bawaba
Al Bawaba

Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi arrived in Kuwait on Saturday at the start of a three-day official visit, the official KUNA news agency reported.  

 

Allawi, leading a large delegation including Iraq's interim planning and oil ministers and its central bank governor, was met at the aiport by top officials, including Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah.  

 

The Iraqi visitor later met with Chairman of the National ‏Assembly's Foreign Affairs Commission MP Mohammed Jassem Al-Saqr at Bayan Palace.  

 

His visit coincides with the 14th anniversary of the invasion of Kuwait by the Iraqi Army under the leadership of the former Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein.  

 

Meanwhile, an Iraqi group holding four Jordanian truck drivers hostage has pledged to free them after establishing they were not carrying goods destined for American troops, relatives of the men said on Saturday. 

 

According to Reuters, Mohammad Hassan Abu Jafaar, 45, the brother of Ahmad Hassan Abu Jafaar, one of the four drivers kidnapped on Tuesday, said his brother's captors allowed him to speak to his family on Saturday in the first phone contact since their abduction. 

 

Abu Jafaar had also spoken to a captor on Friday night. 

 

"A leader of the group phoned me and told me they will be released on Saturday. He said this was because they found out they were not transporting cargo for American occupation troops," Abu Jafaar told Reuters. (albawaba.com) 

© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

Subscribe

Sign up to our newsletter for exclusive updates and enhanced content