Hundreds of Iraqi pilgrims arrived in Mecca by bus, apparently unaware of an order from Baghdad for them to return home

March 21, 1999
Web posted at: 2:36 p.m. EST (1936 GMT)

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Hundreds of Iraqi pilgrims arrived in the holy city of Mecca on Sunday, apparently unaware of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's order for them to return home.

On Saturday, Baghdad ordered the 18,000 Iraqis it had sent into Saudi Arabia by bus the previous day to return from their journey to Mecca after the kingdom refused its demand that frozen Iraqi funds -- and not Saudi charity -- be used to pay for the hajj.

But while most of the buses carrying Iraqi pilgrims turned back, others continued on to Mecca.

The departing pilgrims had insisted the United Nations free up to $2,000 per person from frozen Iraqi assets to pay their expenses.

Iraq was once an oil-rich country. But U.N. sanctions, imposed after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, have impoverished many people in the country, making the hajj an unattainable luxury.

All able-bodied Muslims are required to make the hajj at least once in a lifetime, if they can afford it.

Saudi officials offered to cover the expenses of the unexpected influx of Iraqi pilgrims, but Iraqi officials said they would not accept charity.

Challenge to sanctions

Iraqi Airways flew pilgrims to Saudi Arabia last week

In a direct challenge to the U.N. sanctions, which ban international flights into and out of Iraq, the Iraqi government also flew three planeloads of pilgrims into Saudi Arabia aboard its national airline.

"We are under blockade, and in traveling by plane, we are struggling for the sake of God," said Iraqi Muslim cleric Mustapha Abbass el Zaidi.

Many of the pilgrims that headed back to Iraq under Hussein's orders expressed sorrow for being unable to perform the hajj.

"First we cheered, danced and clapped," said Adnan Mohammed, recalling his joy at getting into Saudi Arabia. "In the end we cried," he added.

Playing politics?

Saudi Arabia's interior minister, Prince Nayef, said that the Iraqis had refused to enter camps set up for them and turned back. It is a "shame that the Iraqi authorities ordered the pilgrims to go back to Iraq," he said.

Iraq on Sunday denied Saudi accusations it was playing politics with the hajj, saying thousands of Iraqis had been forced to abandon their trip to Mecca by Saudi ill-treatment.

"One of the pilgrims died on Saturday morning," said Muhssein Fahim Farhood, an Iraqi official who accompanied the pilgrims into Saudi Arabia. He said that Saudi authorities had cut drinking water from the pilgrims' border encampment and did not provide food.

Reporter James Martone and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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