23:23, 23 April 2003

Azerbaijan will send 150 peacemakers to Iraq

150 Azerbaijan peacemakers are ready to leave for Iraq before May 12. The President of Azerbaijan Geydar Aliyev stated it on April 22 while meeting with the US Ambassador to Baku Ross Wilson. It is supposed that Azerbaijan soldiers will guard Muslim sacred objects in the cities of Kerbela and el-Najaf.

The meeting of the Azerbaijan leader with the American diplomat came as a surprise for everybody, since Geydar Aliyev lose consciousness twice only on April 21 during a solemn ceremony in Baku. But the next day he appeared in public again.

According to the official information, the situation around Iraq was the main subject of the meeting. The Ambassador Ross Wilson informed Aliyev that international organizations livened up their humanitarian work in the northern parts of this country.

The American diplomat expressed the opinion this news would be positively taken in Azerbaijan. The ambassador underlined that Washington approved willingness of official Baku to send a peacemaking contingent to Iraq.

Source: Prima News Agency