BAGHDAD (Islam Online) - Some 7,000 Iraqi pilgrims will go to Mecca this year by bus, 3,000 more than last year.
Relations between Iraq and Saudi Arabia have been strained since 1990, when Iraq attacked Kuwait and occupied it until a United States-led coalition that included Arab states forced Iraq out.
The departure of the first group of Iraqi pilgrims is set for February 29, and the sixth and last group will leave on March 5, said Abdel Moneem Ahmad Saleh, waqf and religious affairs minister.
"Following directives from President Saddam Hussein, the Waqf and Religious Affairs Ministry has this year granted a larger number of requests, close to 7,000, despite the difficult traveling conditions due to the unfair sanctions imposed by the miscreant forces," said the minister, alluding to the U.N. sanctions imposed on Iraq since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
The minister did not say whether Iraq was planning to organize flights to Saudi Arabia, as it did for the 1999 pilgrimage.
Last year, Iraqi pilgrims became the center of controversy when Iraq sent 345 old or sick pilgrims to Saudi Arabia by plane, despite the air embargo.
The U.N. sanctions committee, whose members were divided as to what to do, took no action against Baghdad, with Washington and London saying that the flights were a violation of the embargo while Paris and Moscow disagreed.
Baghdad then sent 18,000 pilgrims by bus, let them cross the border, then recalled them, refusing to let them go to Mecca until the United Nations released funds to cover their expenses.
Iraq has the right to send up to 22,000 pilgrims to Mecca every year, but has not succeeded in sending that number due to its ongoing economic problems. Making Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, obligatory for all healthy Muslims with the financial means to do so.
