March 24, 2003	Monday	Muharram 20, 1424

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ROME, March 23: Italy’s foreign ministry said on Sunday that it had ordered four Iraqi diplomats to leave the country immediately.

The expulsions follow a US request to countries around the world to break off ties with representatives of the government of President Saddam Hussein in Baghdad, currently under bombardment by invading US and British forces.

“These four people have been invited to leave the country according to the norms of this kind of situation,” a foreign ministry spokesman said.

The ministry declined to give the reason for the expulsions. “It has been decided on after an evaluation by the competent authorities,” the spokesman said.

AMMAN: Jordan expelled five Iraqi diplomats on Sunday, becoming the first Arab country to take such a measure since the start of the US-led war on its eastern neighbour.

Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher said the five were “undermining state security” but denied their expulsion had anything to do with US calls for governments worldwide to expel Iraqi diplomats.

“Jordan decided to expel five Iraqi diplomats for security reasons, not political ones,” Moasher told AFP, who earlier identified one of them as an administrative employee.

“Their activities were in violation of international norms and undermined state security in Jordan,” he added.

“The United States did not ask Jordan to expel the Iraqi ambassador or to close the Iraqi embassy in Jordan and, even if they had made such a request, it would not have affected our decision.”

Iraqi press attache Jawad al-Ali told AFP the five embassy staff had left Jordan after being ordered out the previous day.

“The Jordanian foreign ministry informed us on Saturday that they considered five Iraqi diplomats persona non grata and that they must leave within 24 hours. They left on Sunday morning.”

Ali identified the five as commercial counsellor Ali Jomaa, deputy cultural attache Kassem al-Issawi and consulate employees Ghazi Khalil, Abdel Wahab al-Mashhadani and Abdel Razak Ayad.

The attache said 35 diplomats now remained at the Iraqi embassy, including ambassador Sabah Yassin, who headed to Egypt on Saturday to join Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri at an Arab League meeting on Iraq.—AFP