AMMAN, 26 March 2003 — No timetable has been set for Jordan’s first consignment of oil from Saudi Arabia in over 10 years, the Jordanian Minister of Information Mohammed Adwan told Arab News yesterday.
With its oil supply from Iraq cut off at the outbreak of the US-led war, Amman has been hastily seeking alternative sources. “The flow of oil has dried up since the start of the war because of the danger of transporting such material in the present circumstances,” the minister said. “I cannot specify when the first consignment of oil from Saudi Arabia will be received. We are currently utilizing our reserves.”
Adwan and Jordan’s Minister of Trade and Industry Salah Bashir held an emergency press conference yesterday to comment on the latest accusations from the Iraqi government that Jordan had stopped the transportation of food and medical goods to Iraq.
“Since the start of this war over 100 trucks have transported medical equipment, food and aid,” Bashir said, “and contrary to what was said, no Iraqi assets have been frozen whatsoever.”
The minister of information also pointed out that King Abdallah had stated that the Iraqi government can send three replacements for the expelled diplomats, if not more. The Iraqi Embassy, he said, was fully functional. When asked about the accusations from the Iraqi government, Adwan replied he believed they were due to the psychological atmosphere that came with the war. “We regret the language of the Iraqi leaders. It is unwarranted and irresponsible. We should be working to end the war and the suffering of the Iraqi people,” he added.
In another development, a group of more than 20 Palestinians stranded in no-man’s land on the Iraqi-Jordanian border have been allowed to cross to a transit camp inside Jordan, aid workers said yesterday.
The workers said that most members of the group, which included several children, carried Palestinian travel documents of Iraqi or Egyptian origin and they had reached the desert camp late on Monday.
Many Palestinians do not have passports but only travel documents issued by various Arab countries to which they fled after the creation of Israel. Jordan says it cannot accept any more Palestinian refugees. According to analysts, Jordan is sensitive about allowing Palestinians into the country, fearing they will settle and thus disrupt the country’s delicate political balance.
Aid workers said the Palestinians had waited at the border for about four days after fleeing Iraq. Several hundred other non-Iraqis have already been allowed into Jordan, and are being swiftly sent to their home countries. A feared influx of Iraqi refugees has, however, not materialized.
“They (the Palestinians) were all admitted to Jordan last night. They are all in the TCN (third country nationals) camp run by the Jordanian Red Crescent Society,” an official from the UNHCR said.
