Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 6, 1991 TAG: 9102060387
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Cox News Service
DATELINE: AMMAN, JORDAN LENGTH: Medium
Baghdad Radio said that for "organizational purposes" the fuel sales are suspended "until further notice."
The decision is expected to severely impact upon the civilian population and appears to be an effort to reserve crucial petroleum supplies for military purposes. It comes at a time when winter temperatures in Baghdad have been dipping into the low 30s.
Meanwhile in neighboring Jordan, strict new measures to reduce oil consumption went into effect Tuesday.
The Jordanian public overwhelmingly supports Iraq in the war, and animosity toward the United States has steadily risen. On Tuesday, unidentified saboteurs set on fire a car belonging to a military attache at the U.S. Embassy while the vehicle was parked in an Amman neighborhood. There were no injuries.
U.S. Ambassador Roger Harrison was called in Tuesday for the second time in less than a week to meet with Foreign Minister Taher al-Masri to explain allied bombing of Jordanian oil tankers traveling through Iraq.
As many as 31 Jordanian tankers and other vehicles have been destroyed by the bombing attacks, six civilians killed, and about 20 others injured, according to updated figures given Tuesday by Information Minister Ibrahim Izzedin.
Izzedin, who described U.S.-Jordanian relations as worse than at any previous time, said Jordan wants clarifications of U.S. State Department charges. The U.S. alleges that Jordanian tanker drivers travel in nighttime convoys with Iraqi military vehicles and even may carry military parts in the empty tankers they haul into Iraq. The tankers carry out of Iraq the sole source of petroleum for this small country.
"We can deny categorically that our nationals involve themselves in any military activity," Izzedin said at a press briefing.
Since the war began Jan. 17, he said, trucking companies have warned their drivers to avoid convoy travel and not to drive at night for their own safety. Some drivers interviewed, however, have said they sometimes inadvertently have to cross the sensitive final 75 miles to the Jordanian border at night, traveling slowly and with lights out.
A purchasing team was in Syria Tuesday trying to buy oil there to replace part of the losses from reduced tanker traffic in and out of Iraq. Izzedin said Jordan also will try to buy oil on the open market.
The country cannot approach the financial deal it has with Iraq, which supplies oil at a rate of about $16 per barrel, compared to the market price of around $30. In fact, Jordan does not pay anything for the Iraqi petroleum, since Iraq supplies it in repayment of debts.
Although Izzedin said his country has enough oil to last several months, Jordan began a strict new campaign to reduce consumption Tuesday. Private cars will be permitted to drive only every other day, based on whether the license plate ends in an odd or even number. Government buildings also are required to reduce consumption, including by cutting back heating 25 percent during the wet and cold winter season.
by CNB