USA: IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO UNITED NATIONS IGNORES QUESTIONS FROM MEDIA ABOUT NEW GOVERNMENT IN IRAQ

Record ID: 337961

  • Title: USA: IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO UNITED NATIONS IGNORES QUESTIONS FROM MEDIA ABOUT NEW GOVERNMENT IN IRAQ
  • Date: 10th April 2003
  • Summary: (EU) NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, (APRIL 10, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV / PAN JOURNALISTS WAITING OUTSIDE HOME OF IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N. MOHAMMED ALDOURI 0.05 2. SCU CAMERAMAN 0.09 3. MV MOHAMMED ALDOURI COMING OUT AND WALKING TOWARDS CAR 0.17 4. VARIOUS, ALDOURI SURROUNDED BY SCUFFLING JOURNALISTS, HE SAYS "SORRY NO COMMENT" JOURNALIST ASKS: "WHO SHOULD GOVERN IRAQ" /ALDOURI GETTING INTO CAR 0.53 5. PAN/ SLV CAR DRIVING AWAY 1.06 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 25th April 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAWS9YND67QATSR1Y9LGUGXPM1
  • Story Text: Iraqi Ambassador to the United Nations Mohammed Aldouri
    has refused to answer media questions about who should govern
    Iraq.



    Earlier on Thursday (April 10, 2003), Iraq's U.N. ambassador
    Mohammed Aldouri declared that "everything is over" and there
    was no government in Iraq left for him to represent.

    "Everything is over. There is no government that I
    represent. I am representing my country right now," Mohammed
    Aldouri said in a brief interview with Reuters in New York.

    Rumours have been sweeping the United Nations that Aldouri
    was planning to leave New York and some television reports had
    him on a plane to Paris late on Wednesday (April 9).

    "When I feel that everything is ready I will go. It's not
    easy to prepare yourself to leave," Aldouri said.

    He added, "The continuity of the state of Iraq will
    continue. The new people will come with their own mission and
    they will continue to work at the United Nations."
    Aldouri on Wednesday (April 9) made the first admission by
    an Iraqi official that U.S. and British troops had overwhelmed
    his country after a three-week war, telling reporters "the
    game is over".

    A law professor for most of his life, Aldouri said he had
    had no communication with his government for days and had had
    no relationship with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

    The ambassador had been a defender of Saddam Hussein's
    government as its chief U.N. representative.

    On March 27, he said the United States, Britain and
    Australia were "about to start a real war of extermination
    that will kill everyone and destroy everything," prompting
    U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte to walk out of the Security
    Council chambers.

    But he was liked personally among many colleagues.

    When told about Aldouri's comments, British Ambassador Sir
    Jeremy Greenstock said on Wednesday, "I pay tribute to him
    acknowledging it. He is a decent man."
    "I hope he finds a decent life, representing a decent
    government. He must wonder what his situation is now and I
    sympathize with him," Greenstock said.

    Aldouri this week had been going about his duties at the
    United Nations, including attending meetings of Arab
    ambassadors.

    The current Iraqi government holds the U.N. seat until
    another government hands in its credentials, something not
    expected to happen for many months. But it is unknown whether
    the handful of Iraqi diplomats in New York will stay on.

    Aldouri took up his post in New York two years ago after
    serving as Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations' European
    headquarters in Geneva. A legal scholar and law school dean in
    Iraq, he is known for his fluency in the French language and
    literature.


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