British Government Alert Citizens about possible Chemical, Biological Weapons Attack in Oman
London -July 10, 2003 There remains a high threat to British individuals and organisations in the region. Terrorist attacks could involve the use of chemical and biological materials. Following three suicide bombings in Riyadh on 12 May, there remains a high threat of further large or small scale attacks against western interests in the region, announced the UK Government travel advise to its nationals living and travel to Oman."Developments in Iraq and on the Middle East Peace Process continue to have an impact on local public opinion in the region and this may be expressed by some people, including through acts of violence against British nationals or organisations. You should follow news reports and be alert to regional developments,' the travel advise said.
You should maintain a high level of vigilance, particularly in public places frequented by foreigners such as hotels, restaurants and shopping malls. You should take sensible precautions for your personal and vehicle safety and avoid any political gatherings and demonstrations
SAFETY AND SECURITY
Terrorism
Although no incidents have occurred which directly affected British nationals, we believe that Oman, in common with all the Gulf region, is a place where the threat to British individuals and organisations from terrorism is high. Terrorist attacks in the region could involve the use of chemical and biological materials More
Following three suicide bombings in Riyadh on 12 May, there remains a high threat of further large or small scale attacks against western interests in the region.You should maintain a high level of vigilance, particularly in public places frequented by foreigners such as hotels, restaurants and shopping malls, and exercise good security practices.
Domestic Political Situation
The vast majority of visits to Oman are trouble-free. Developments in Iraq and on the Middle East Peace Process continue to have an impact on local public opinion in the region and this might be expressed by some people, including through acts of violence against British nationals or organisations. You should follow news reports and be alert to regional developments which might trigger public disturbances.
Demonstrations took place in April 2002, but were successfully controlled by the authorities, and there was virtually no damage to people or property. You should take sensible precautions for your personal safety and avoid public gatherings and demonstrations.
Crime and local travel
The law and order situation is generally good. Driving at night can be dangerous outside Muscat, as there is a risk of hitting camels that stray on the road. Rental and company vehicles particularly are vulnerable to robbery in the Thumrait, Marmul and Nimr area of Southern Oman. There was a spate of such incidents in 2002 although vehicle theft appears to be the motive and so far victims have been unharmed. People renting cars should take advice on security from hire companies before undertaking travel. All off road travel should be with at least two vehicles suitably equipped in case of emergencies. Those intending such travel should take out sufficient insurance to meet the costs of a major rescue operation.
Driving is on the right. There are good roads in Muscat and between Muscat and major towns in the interior. Driving standards are, by regional standards, good but drivers do tend to speed and tailgate. Seat belts must be worn in the front seats and you are not allowed to use a mobile phone whilst driving (you can be given an on-the-spot fine). Speed limits are clearly posted on major roads. There is a mandatory 3 nights in jail if you are caught speeding, run a red light or cause an accident whilst under the influence of drink as driving under the influence of alcohol is strictly forbidden. Traffic laws in Oman are strictly imposed.
The import (even temporary) of right hand drive vehicles is not allowed.
LOCAL LAWS AND CUSTOMS
Oman is a Muslim state and Islamic customs, in public, are strictly observed. During the holy month of Ramadan (next in November 2003) you should take particular care not to offend Muslim customs and traditions. You should not eat, drink or smoke in public during the hours of fasting.
The import and use of narcotics, alcohol, pork products and obscene material are forbidden and can lead to imprisonment. There are severe penalties for drug offences including, in some cases, the death penalty. 'soft' drugs are treated as seriously as 'hard' drugs.
In public, general modesty of behaviour and dress is expected. Women who wear shorts or tight-fitting clothes, in particular in downtown areas, are likely to attract unwelcome attention. There have been some reported cases of sexual harassment.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
British passport holders can obtain an entry visa upon arrival at any land, sea or air entry port in Oman. There are two options:
* A one-month combined tourist/business visa costing 6 Omani Rials (OR). This can be extended for one month for a further 6 OR;
* A one year multiple entry visa, which is valid for three weeks, after which nationals must leave Oman for at least three weeks before returning.Overstaying without the proper authority can lead to severe fines. You are advised to check visa requirements well in advance with the Oman Embassy, 167 Queen's Gate, London, SW7 6HE (tel: 020 7225 0001).
There are severe penalties, including prison, for carrying drugs banned in Oman. If you are travelling to Oman with prescription drugs you should carry a copy of the prescription. Not to do so can be an offence if the drugs are on the banned list. If you have any queries you advised to check well in advance with Oman's Ministry of Health or with the Oman Embassy in London, from whom a list of banned drugs is available.
Oman has introduced restrictions on visitors from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome affected countries. You should contact an Omani Embassy for advice before travelling.
HEALTH
You should contact your local GP for advice on inoculations.
GENERAL
You or your tour company should register your presence in Oman with the British Embassy. British Embassy, Jameat a’Duwal al Arabia Street, Shatti al Qurum, Muscat (+ 968 693077).You should ensure that you have comprehensive medical and travel insurance.
Government and public sector organizations employ 51% of the IT job placements in the UAE
Departments like DNRD are leading the way in leveraging IT to create leading edge solutions
July 8, 2003
Nearly 51 per cent of IT recruitment placements in the UAE are absorbed by government and public sector institutions, while Dubai's job market dominates the region by offering 59 per cent of all IT vacancies in the UAE, according to a new market survey.
The UAE government's aggressive drive towards IT integration has created a substantial demand for an IT workforce, with an annual growth of 8 per cent. The total IT workforce in the UAE is estimated from 80,000 to 100,000, with 6,400 to 8,000 new IT jobs created annually, according to the findings from a recent survey conducted by the Madar Research Group.
"The frenzied pace at which the UAE government is embracing technology has generated a strong demand for IT professionals and also opened a new area of opportunity for UAE nationals to take up rewarding employment," said Colonel Saeed bin Belailah, Director, Dubai Naturalisation & Residency Department (DNRD). "It is expected that the UAE public sector absorbs the highest number of IT professionals as part of a government-led initiative towards automation and integration."
The DNRD, one of the foremost examples of leveraging IT to generate employment and enhance public services, is powered by a proactive and committed in-house IT department responsible for introducing innovations and pioneering new concepts, such as e-Gate, to speed up processes and increase security, for a more streamlined functioning of the department. Its IT department of 25 nationals is also responsible for running a highly complex database of all residents and visitors.
"UAE's rapid IT growth has been fueled by the government that is firmly committed to applying the benefits of technology to the lives of the people and to businesses. As a result, individual departments are constantly challenged to create solutions tailored towards greater efficiency and swiftness. DNRD has been highly successful in its IT operations, offering a number of services online, including applications for visas and renewals," Colonel Bin Belailah added.
"The levels of competence and expertise developed by some government bodies as a part of IT-driven initiatives can be seen in projects such as e-Gate, the electronic card access system at Dubai International Airport, developed wholly by an in-house IT team of nationals from DNRD," said Colonel Bin Belailah. "The increasing importance of IT has infused a new drive in the government sector, and we hope to see further innovations and improvements in the delivery of the service by all government departments and consequently generation of more IT jobs across the spectrum of services."
The market research analyses show that Dubai continues to dominate the IT development, commanding 59 per cent of the IT vacancies in the UAE, because of outstanding IT projects like Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City and the Knowledge Village.
July 8, 2003
American Soldiers Looted Airport, Duty Free Shops in Baghdad
Much has been written about how Iraqis complicated the task of rebuilding their country by looting it after Saddam Hussein's regime fell. According to an interesting report in the Times about the international airport outside Baghdad, theft and vandalism were conducted largely by victorious American troops.Quoting U.S. officials, Iraqi Airways staff members and other airport workers, the Times said American troops stole duty-free items, needlessly shot up the airport and trashed five serviceable Boeing airplanes.
What was then called Saddam International Airport fell to soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division on April 3. For the next two weeks, airport workers say, soldiers sleeping in the airport's main terminal helped themselves to items in the duty-free shop, including alcohol, cassettes, perfume, cigarettes and expensive watches. Welsh, who arrived in Iraq in late April, was so alarmed by the thievery that he rounded up a group of Iraqi airport employees to help him clean out the shop and its storage area. He locked everything in two containers and turned them over to the shop's owner. U.S. estimates of the cost of the damage and theft begin at a few million dollars and go as high as $100 million. Airport workers say even now air conditioners and other equipment are regularly stolen. "Soldiers do this stuff all the time, everywhere. It's warfare," says a U.S. military official. Read the Full Report
Scandal Of 'Lost' Iraqi POWS - Only 2,000 Are Accounted For
07.07.2003 [00:14]
The Red Cross yesterday accused Tony Blair and George Bush of breaching the Geneva Convention over the shabby treatment of Iraqi prisoners of war.The humanitarian organisation said the true number of PoWs and their whereabouts was unknown, family visits have been denied and there was no system in place to monitor arrests or pass on details to the Red Cross.
A high-ranking official of the International Committee of the Red Cross said: "It is an obligation of the occupying power to notify us of any arrests but that's not happening. We are not receiving anything like full information on prisoners of war. "There is no proper notification. No organisation. There is not the will to resolve this issue.
"Talks are now taking place at the highest level and if we don't make progress then we will be merciless in fighting our corner." The shocking series of complaints made by the ICRC include:
ONLY 2,000 prisoners have so far been seen with many more unaccounted for.
RELATIVES are not allowed to visit them even if they are lucky enough to track them down.
SO slipshod has been the taking down of Arabic names of PoWs that they are meaningless, making it impossible for the Red Cross to track down their families
NO notification of arrests or where prisoners are held and no urgency in passing on information.
Labour MP and leading war critic Tam Dalyell called on the Prime Minister to urgently resolve the Red Cross grievances. He said: "He's got to sort this out - or release the PoWs. Not monitoring prisoners properly will cause huge resentment, especially if those being held are innocent.
"Adding to the perceived injustices of the Iraqi people will only create more bitterness and lead to more attacks on our forces.
"It is a catastrophic state of affairs."
The US has sidestepped some of its responsibilities under the 50-year-old Geneva Convention because President Bush stopped short of declaring the war over.
Under the Convention, once war is declared over the victorious army must release prisoners of war and halt operations targeting specific leaders. Human rights group Amnesty International has called on the US and British forces to give Iraqis detained since the beginning of the occupation the right to meet families and lawyers.
They are also calling for a judicial review of their detention.
UK Director Lesley Warner said: "The conditions of detention Iraqis are held under at the Camp Cropper Centre at Baghdad International Airport - now a US base - and at Abu Ghraib Prison may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, banned by international law." Detainees held in Baghdad have invariably reported that they suffered cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment immediately after arrest.
They report being tightly bound with plastic handcuffs and sometimes denied water and access to a toilet in the first night of arrest. Amnesty delegates saw numerous ex-detainees with wrists still scarred by the cuffs a month later. The Red Cross has a policy of not speaking publicly on the condition of prisoners.
The official who spoke to the Daily Mirror from Geneva said: "I shouldn't really be talking to you but the truth is we don't have a full picture of all the arrests and are not receiving all the information we need."The Ministry of Defence said yesterday it worked closely with the Red Cross .
A spokesman said: "If the ICRC is raising this issue then answers will be given to the queries they have raised. We take our obligations under the Geneva Convention very seriously."
Two Huge US Intelligence Centers Go Up In Iraq
Vol. 3, Issue 113, June 20, 2003 DEBKA-Net-Weekly
6-21-3http://www.rense.com
The Americans are secretly building two giant intelligence facilities in Iraq at a cost of some half a billion dollars, according to an exclusive report received from DEBKA-Net-Weekly's intelligence sources. US engineering and construction units are setting up what amounts to an "intelligence city" on a site north of the oil city of Mosul in Kurdistan and a second facility in Baghdad's Saadun district on the east bank of the Tigris. Our military experts infer from the vast dimensions of the two projects and their colossal expense that it is Washington's intention to retain a large US military presence in Iraq in the long term, for a decade at least.
The new installations will greatly enhance America's military, intelligence and electronic command and control over Iraq and its neighbors, notably Iran and Syria. The Mosul facility will guard northern Iraq's oilfields and the pipelines carrying Iraqi gas and oil to Mediterranean terminals. Its instruments will reach into every corner of Iran and Syria, replacing America's electronic eyes and ears in southern Turkey. This facility will be activated a section at a time according to need. Upon completion at the end of 2005, it will employ an operating staff of around 4,000 American intelligence personnel and electronic engineers.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly's Middle East sources report that the intelligence center going up near Mosul is causing much nervousness in Damascus and Tehran. Both governments understand that when the first sections are activated in three months time, not a single military or intelligence move of theirs will go unseen by America's electronic spies - and that goes for terrorist activity as well.
That Baghdad station has been assigned completely different functions. While the Mosul center will provide early warning against external threats to the US military presence in Iraq, the Baghdad station will stand guard over America's political and military control of the capital and its satellite towns, including the Sunni enclave cities of Falluja, Ramadi and Tikrit.
To clear a site for the giant facility, DEBKA-Net-Weekly's military sources report the Americans have expropriated the luxury Baghdad Hotel complex that straddles Saadun Street to the east and Abu Nuw'as Street, which is a section of the Corniche along the Tigris, as well as the surrounding blocks between Firodos Square and the city's main bus terminal to the north at Naser Square.
Since the beginning of this week, an American airlift has been running large containers crammed with electronic parts from American army bases to Baghdad international airport.
Once the Baghdad electronic station is up and running it will aid US forces in their fight against guerrilla and terrorist assailants picking off GIs almost every day. These assaults are harmful but they do not detract from the overall American control over security in the broad expanses of a large country. There is every indication that the US civil administrator Paul Bremer is gradually pulling ahead of the difficulties. His recipe is simple. No Iraqi associated in any way with the overthrown Saddam regime or the outlawed Baath party is to be allowed to take part in government. Bremer equally bars from public service all Iraqis with foreign political connections, even American. This means that all political hopefuls from whatever party, ethnic group or religious sect will fight level for a place in government when the time comes - all standing at the same starting line.
This formula, according to DEBKA-Net-Weekly's sources, pacified the rival Shiite factions who make up more than half the populace and who were on the verge of rising up against the American presence in the country. Now they are more ready to collaborate with the US civil administration, as are the Kurds under their rival leaders, Mustafa Barzani and Jalal Talabani. Since Bremer took over in Baghdad, the two tribal leaders have decided to go for a merger to unite their movements into a single political entity. Without this union, neither holds much chance of office in the future central government.
