DATE=3/1/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=IRAQ PILGRIMS (L ONLY) NUMBER=2-259723 BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB DATELINE= CONTENT= CAIRO VOICED AT: INTRO: A planeload of elderly Iraqis has flown to Saudi Arabia for the annual haj, or Muslim pilgrimage, despite an international ban. V-O-A Middle East Correspondent Scott Bobb reports the flight comes as the first of seven-thousand Iraqi pilgrims travel overland to perform the pilgrimage. TEXT: Saudi officials Wednesday greeted this year's first planeload of Iraqi pilgrims at Jeddah's international airport. The Russian-built craft landed at mid-day with 117 pilgrims aboard, including Iraq's Minister of Religious Affairs, Abdul-Muneim Ahmed Saleh. The mostly elderly or infirm pilgrims are to visit Muslim holy sites during the upcoming haj, one of the five pillars of Islam. Iraqi officials said the plane would make several more flights. The United Nations Security Council last December voted to exempt haj pilgrims from the international ban on Iraqi commercial air travel, and to allow them to cross the no-fly zones imposed on Iraqi planes following the Gulf War. However, the Iraqi government does not recognize the no-fly zones and apparently did not request permission to send the plane to Saudi Arabia. About one-thousand Iraqis have already left for Saudi Arabia by bus, the first of an estimated seven- thousand who are due to travel overland for this year's haj. U-N officials say they are near an agreement that will allow these pilgrims to receive two thousand dollars each -- with the money taken from Iraqi oil export funds administered by the United Nations. The Iraqi government in the past has refused such funds, insisting the money be deposited in its central bank for distribution by Iraqi officials. Last year, the dispute led Iraq to summon most of its pilgrims home before they could complete the haj, despite an offer by Saudi leaders to pay their expenses. Saudi officials say 400-thousand pilgrims have already arrived in the kingdom. An estimated two million pilgrims are expected to perform the haj, which is due to begin in two weeks. (Signed) NEB/SB/JWH/gm 01-Mar-2000 12:22 PM EDT (01-Mar-2000 1722 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .
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