First Iraqis Arrive At Saudi Border For Mecca Pilgrimage
RIYADH, Jan 23 (News Agencies) - The first group of seven Iraqi pilgrims traveling on the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca arrived at the northern Saudi border post of Ar'ar Tuesday, the official SPA news agency reported.
"The Saudi border authorities afforded all necessary facilities to the group of seven pilgrims, making up part of the 17,000 Iraqis expected to make the pilgrimage this year," SPA said.
Iraq's Religious Affairs Minister Abdul Moneem Ahmad Saleh was in Saudi Arabia earlier this month to finalize preparations for Iraqi Muslims during the 2001 hajj.
Under hajj quotas, sanctions-hit Iraq has the right to send 24,700 pilgrims to the holy Muslim city every year, but has not succeeded in sending that number due to economic problems.
The hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, is set to take place in March this year when some two million pilgrims will gather in Mecca.
It is obligatory for all Muslims sound of body and having the financial means to carry it out.
Riyadh and Baghdad do not have diplomatic relations and contact has been rare since the Gulf War in 1991.
