Iraq Notebook
Iraqi leaders hope donors hand over promised funds

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TOKYO — Donor nations wrapped up a two-day meeting today that Iraqi leaders hope will free up reconstruction funds that were pledged a year ago but have been held up by the country's continuing instability.

The Tokyo meeting, bringing together 57 nations and international organizations, is a follow-up to a conference a year ago in Madrid, Spain, where the international community, led by the United States, vowed to contribute $13.6 billion in grants and loans. About $1.3 billion has been given so far.

The only new pledge offered was from Iran, which said it will chip in $10 million.

Iraq did receive support for a U.S.-led effort to get the international community to forgive Iraq's debt, estimated at $125 billion.

Panel outlines election rules, details

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Voters in Iraq's January elections will have their thumbs marked with indelible ink to prevent them casting ballots more than once, the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq said yesterday.

The use of indelible ink caused controversy in Afghanistan's presidential elections last weekend and an independent panel of experts is looking into complaints that the ink used in some polling stations could be rubbed off.

Election staff members in Afghanistan were supposed to mark voters' left thumbs with indelible ink, but some apparently used pens meant for marking the ballots or ink meant for stamping them instead. The wrong ink was easily washed off.

Farid Ayar, who sits on the Iraqi commission's board, said the ink to be used in Iraq's elections could not be removed for at least 48 hours.

The electoral commission also said the registration of parties and independent candidates wishing to participate in the election will begin Nov. 1 and continue until mid-December. Verification of voter rolls, based on a Saddam Hussein-era database for food rationing, will take place over the same period.
 
The commission published rules governing the eligibility of candidates for the election to choose a 275-seat assembly whose main task will be to draft a permanent constitution for Iraq.

Senior members of Saddam's Baath party will not be allowed to run, unless they have been exempted from laws barring them from public office, the commission said. Former members of Saddam's security agencies, which terrorized Iraqis throughout his 23-year rule, also were barred from running, as were Iraqis found to have taken part in the persecution of fellow citizens or to have illegally amassed wealth.

25 election specialists may be sent by U.N.

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations is considering sending 25 election specialists to Iraq before the planned polls in January, U.N. sources said yesterday.

Fearful of attacks, the world body has had a ceiling of 35 for all staff in Iraq, of which about six are dealing with the upcoming elections.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has been under pressure to send international staff to Iraq before the election.

The United Nations is organizing guards for its premises, mainly from Fiji. But so far there is no separate unit that would be part of the multinational force to protect U.N. staff outside of Baghdad, which means U.S. troops would continue to guard U.N. staff. Georgia has offered troops but details aren't settled.

Ugandan president slams U.S. "arrogance"

KAMPALA, Uganda — Uganda's president criticized the U.S. handling of the war in Iraq and said the Bush administration had pursued interests that were not disclosed to coalition partners before the hostilities.

The bloody Iraqi insurgency is a result of the U.S. "arrogance" and mishandling of relations between its troops and Iraqi civilians, President Yoweri Museveni — one of the four African members of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq — said Tuesday while opening a military college.

His remarks were reported yesterday in the state-owned New Vision newspaper and confirmed by Information Minister James Nsaba Buturo. Despite the concern, Uganda has no plans to pull out of the coalition, Buturo said.

The White House lists Uganda, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Rwanda as African members of the coalition.