UAE ready to launch talks on Iraq's debts

His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, said the UAE is ready to begin negotiations on Iraq's debts.

He gave the assurance when he received yesterday James Baker, the former US secretary of state and President George W. Bush's special envoy.

Sheikh Khalifa said the UAE is ready for talks on the debt as soon as a government is elected, provided the new regime accepts the negotiations.

Sheikh Khalifa told Baker that the UAE was doing its best to support Iraqis in achieving security and stability in the country, following the directives of President His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

In Qatar, a Foreign Ministry official said his country would waive most of Iraq's debts and consider writing off the rest. Another Qatari official told Reuters that Iraq owes Doha about $4 billion that has accrued since the 1980s.

"The state of Qatar will forgive most of the debts Iraq owes it and will consider waiving the remaining amount at a later, more appropriate time," the ministry official told the state news agency QNA after a meeting between Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and Baker.

Meanwhile, thousands of Shiites hit the streets of four Iraqi cities, calling on the United States to hand over Saddam Hussain to be tried as a war criminal and demanding a bigger say in their political future. The rallies wer held in Baghdad, Najaf, Karbala and Basra.

In New York, diplomats said UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was expected to decide within a week whether to send a political team to Iraq to tackle the Shiite calls for polls.