4 lakh Iraqi govt staff sacked

Iraq’s US Governor L. Paul Bremer, wielding powers newly endorsed at the UN, fired over 400,000 state employees on Friday as part of wh...

Iraq’s US Governor L. Paul Bremer, wielding powers newly endorsed at the UN, fired over 400,000 state employees on Friday as part of what he called a drive to rid the nation of links to Saddam Hussein’s era.

But many Iraqis criticised the move, saying under Saddam people hoping to get a job or advance in the government had to show loyalty to his Baath Party. Critics said the mass sackings could drive Saddam loyalists underground to plot a return to power.

Annan names UN rights chief
as Iraq envoy

UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan named UN human rights chief Sergio Vieira de Mello on Friday as his special representative for Iraq, clearing the way for the world body to begin fleshing out its role in Iraqi reconstruction.
Brazilian Vieira de Mello, 55, was also Washington’s top choice for the job. He had been summoned to the US capital in early March, weeks before the start of the US-led invasion of Iraq. —Reuters

Striving to halt the lawlessness that has gripped Iraq and hampered reconstruction efforts since US-led forces invaded two months ago, the American military announced plans to try and disarm the millions of civilians now carrying weapons.

US forces also said they have seized a suspected $500 million worth of gold bars from a truck near Qaim on the Syrian border.

Hours after the UN ended 13 years of sanctions, US Administrator Paul Bremer abolished the Defence and Information ministries and military and security courts.

The order disbands the elite Republican Guards and regular Army, suspends conscription, hands property of dissolved bodies over to the US-led administration and dismisses all employees of the dissolved entities — more than 400,000 of them. The US Administration has also banned Saddam’s Baath party and vowed to bar its leaders from future public office. (Reuters)