IRAQ: Coalition forces held responsible for damage to manuscripts and

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Att.Editors: The following item is by the United Arab Emirates news agency (WAM)

ABU DHABI, Apr 21 2003 (IPS) - The International Council on Archives (ICA) has decided to set up a special committee to be based in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to protect Iraq’s historical manuscripts and documents and protect the country’s heritage in the wake of massive destruction caused by the ongoing war to Iraqi national archives, a senior official said here yesterday.

Dr Abdullah M. Al Reyes, Director General of the Centre for Documentation and Research of the President Court’s and president of the Abu Dhabi-based Arab Regional Branch of the International Council of Archives (Arbica), said the special committee, comprising representatives of ICA and UNESCO, would be set up soon to take steps to protect the valuable and unique heritage and documents of Iraq, according to a report in ‘Khaleej Times’.

"Formation of the committee has been proposed by Arbica in the wake of the US-led war in Iraq, to avert serious dangers that constitute a threat to historical treasures of Iraq – the cradle of civilization," said Dr Al Reyes.

The fierce bombardment by coalition forces, he said, had posed a serious threat to Iraq’s heritage and documents and archives of the ancient Iraqi civilization. About responsibilities of the committee, Dr Al Reyes said it would visit Iraq on a regular basis in an attempt to restore and preserve what had been left of the historical documents.

"The committee will inspect Iraqi national archives and libraries to protect what has been left of the valuable documents with special focus on tracing the looted manuscripts outside Iraq, in order to bring them back to the country’s archives," said Dr Al Reyes.

On steps taken by Arbica in protecting the heritage of the Iraqi nation, Dr Al Reyes said the council had approached the ICA and other responsible authorities worldwide to take a quick initiative to save and preserve Iraq’s historical documents and archives and set up an urgent fund to cover the expenses for implementing the required plan and prevent the treasures from being taken out of their homeland.

"Our proposal was prompted by the damage caused to archives and documents in the Iraqi civil departments, which are of great significance to the whole Arab world," he said.

On the consequences of the war on Iraq’s historical documents, Dr Al Reyes said the war in Iraq had put national archives, libraries, ancient documents and the important archaeological sites in a state of serious danger. The plundering and looting, which followed the fall of Baghdad to the US forces, resulted in the destruction of 170,000 rare and valuable archaeological pieces, dating back to thousands of years, he said.

About the media report that a US cultural agency has offered to purchase the looted antiquities and documents, Dr Al Reyes said: "This particular action is against the norms of all international treaties and conventions, which stipulate the protection of the historical, archaeological and intellectual heritage of states."

Arbica holds the coalition forces and their respective government fully responsible for all the material and intellectual damages inflicted upon museums and educational institutions in Iraq, he noted.