[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 47 (Thursday, March 9, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12611-12612]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-5773]


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DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Office of the Secretary

[Public Notice-3239]


Extension of the Restriction on the Use of United States 
Passports for Travel To, In or Through Iraq

    On February 1, 1991, pursuant to the authority of 22 U.S.C. 211a 
and Executive Order 11295 (31 FR 10603), and in accordance with 22 CFR 
51.73(a)(2) and (a)(3), all United States passports, with certain 
exceptions, were declared invalid for travel to, in, or through Iraq 
unless specifically validated for such travel. The restriction was 
originally imposed because armed hostilities then were taking place in 
Iraq and Kuwait, and because there was an imminent danger to the safety 
of United States travelers to Iraq. American citizens then residing in 
Iraq and American professional reporters and journalists on assignment 
there were exempted from the restriction on the ground that such 
exemptions were in the national interest. The restriction has been 
extended for additional one-year periods since then, and was last 
extended through March 20, 2000, pursuant to your decision of March 18, 
1999.
    Conditions in Iraq remain hazardous for Americans. Iraq continues 
to refuse to comply with UN Security Council resolutions to fully 
declare and destroy its weapons of mass destruction and missiles while 
mounting a virulent public campaign in which the United States is 
blamed for maintenance of U.N. sanctions. The United Nations has 
withdrawn all U.S. citizen UN humanitarian workers from Iraq because of 
the Government of Iraq's stated inability to protect their safety. 
Since January 1999, Iraq has fired anti-aircraft artillery and surface-
to-air missiles at U.S. and coalition aircraft enforcing the no-fly 
zones over northern and southern Iraq over 160 times, and has 
repeatedly illuminated U.S. and coalition aircraft with target-
acquisition radar. In February 1999, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein 
offered a reward for the downing of an American or British aircraft or 
the capture of an American or British pilot.
    Local conflicts within Iraq also pose hazards to travelers. The 
central government does not maintain control over all areas in the 
South and travel at night is particularly hazardous, given the 
potential for armed clashes between government forces and local 
resistance elements. Military repression of Shia communities continues 
in southern Iraq;

[[Page 12612]]

hundreds of persons were summarily killed in security sweeps and entire 
villages were razed during 1999. The government's draconian repression 
of its civilian population creates a high risk to innocent bystanders.
    U.S. citizens and other foreigners working inside Kuwait near the 
Iraqi borders have been detained by Iraqi authorities in the past and 
sentenced to lengthy jail terms for alleged illegal entry into the 
country. Although our interests are represented by the Embassy of 
Poland in Baghdad, its ability to obtain consular access to detained 
U.S. citizens and to perform emergency services is constrained by Iraqi 
unwillingness to cooperate. In light of these circumstances, I have 
determined that Iraq continues to be a country ``where there is 
imminent danger to the public health or physical safety of United 
States travelers''.
    Accordingly, United States passports shall continue to be invalid 
for use in travel to, in, or through Iraq unless specifically validated 
for such travel under the authority of the Secretary of State. The 
restriction shall not apply to American citizens residing in Iraq on 
February 1, 1991, who continue to reside there, or to American 
professional reporters or journalists on assignment there.
    The Public Notice shall be effective from the date it is published 
in the Federal Register and shall expire at midnight on the same date 
in the year 2001, unless sooner extended or revoked by Public Notice.

    Dated: February 24, 2000.
Madeleine K. Albright,
Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State.
[FR Doc. 00-5773 Filed 3-8-00; 8:45 am]
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