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Iraqi Minister Notes "Improvement" on Syrian Borders, No Arrests

Posted on: Sunday, 4 December 2005, 18:00 CST

Text of report by Qatari Al-Jazeera satellite TV on 4 December

Iraqi Interior Minister [Baqir Jabr Solagh] has said that there is a noticeable improvement on the Iraqi-Syrian borders and that the Syrian authorities have taken decisive measures on the ground to prevent the entry of those whom he described as infiltrators into Iraq.

[Solagh - recording] I can say that during the past two weeks, the borders have witnessed positive development to the extent that we have not arrested anybody in that period, although the Interior Ministry - being responsible for the borders - had made arrests in the past. There was a gap of approximately 250 kilometres.

We sought the help of the army, which took control of 60 checkpoints out of 200. Now I can say that the Interior and Defence Ministries, in cooperation with the coalition forces, control the Iraqi-Syrian borders effectively. For its part, the Syrian side has taken measures, since we have observed in the past period the presence of some four-metre-high sand barriers. This is a positive step and I hope that the borders will be blocked by such methods. We hope that calm will continue and that we will not arrest anybody because if we do, we will announce these arrests. [End recording]

Solagh also said that the continuing presence of the coalition forces in Iraq came as a result of an agreement between the elected government and the coalition forces. He stressed that he rejected the idea of beginning the withdrawal [of the coalition forces] as stated by some US generals.

[Solagh - recording] On the issue of the militias and the departure of the coalition forces, I would like to affirm that there is a full agreement - which was presented to the parliament - between the elected Iraqi government and the coalition forces that these forces will not leave Iraq until absolute stability and security are achieved. Therefore President Bush made clear statements in this regard and here I am also clearly speaking about it as an interior minister. Before Bush's speech, General Casey discussed with me the idea of beginning the withdrawal and I was clearly against this idea. Recently, we listened to President Bush's final decision in which he stressed that there would not be a pullout until the Iraqi security forces become capable of marinating security and stability in Iraq.

Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

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