CIVILIANS CALLED HOME

The Hungarian government calls on Hungarian citizens working in Iraq to come home at once to avoid the dangers of becoming victims of actions taking hostages.

After the cabinet session the government spokesman said the government and the international forces could not guarantee the safety of people working in Iraq. ’We hope no Hungarian citizen will be taken hostage’, he added. He claimed Hungarian civilians did not work for the ’reconstrucion’ of Iraq as planned but for supplying international forces. ’The Hungarian authorities do not know anything about Hungarian civilians in Iraq and they are not responsible for them’, he said. Ferenc Juhász, Minister of Defence in a television programme has called on relatives and acquaintances of people working in Iraq to inform them about the danger and call them home. István Simicskó MP (Fidesz) said the government policy was controversial in this issue, too. The opposition party wants to withdraw all the Hungarian troops from Iraq urgently to prevent civilian losses. Mr Simicskó said the Iraqi conflict could be arranged only by a UN military presence.

Translated by Péter Szentmihályi Szabó