WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (Reuter) - A delegation of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which recently took control of northern Iraq with help from Baghdad, has been invited to Washington for talks with U.S. officials, the State Department said Thursday.

Spokesman Nicholas Burns said Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Robert Pelletreau had agreed to the visit in a telephone conversation with KDP leader Massoud Barzani.

Pelletreau and Barzani met in Ankara last month, soon after the KDP invited in military aid from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and captured the city of Arbil, routing the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

The KDP move was seen as a major loss of influence for the United States in northern Iraq, which has been protected by Western states since the 1991 Gulf War.

Washington is hoping, however, to rebuild links with the KDP and with local Turkmen leaders in order to continue to exclude the Iraqi president from the area.

Burns said he believed the KDP visit would take place soon, but had no exact dates. He did not say whether Barzani himself would come.

He told a news briefing U.S. officials also planned contacts with the defeated PUK, but no visit had so far been arranged. ``I think we're going to take this one group at a time,'' he said

Now We're Forced to Deal With Saddam

By Lally Weymouth

Wednesday, October 2 1996; Page A17 The Washington Post

When Saddam Hussein's troops stormed into northern Iraq, reportedly slaughtering CIA-backed Iraqi dissidents in cold blood, the U.S. reaction was not to stand and fight but to evacuate the Americans who'd been directing the anti-Sad\dam operations. By now, at least some high-ranking U.S. officials will even admit that they are happy that America has been handed an excuse to abandon its commitment to ensuring a Kurdish safe haven in northern Iraq. But most remain distressed by this circumstance -- and rightly so.

After all, as one former U.S. diplomat notes, U.S. policy vis-a-vis northern Iraq "is in shreds. . . . There's no policy but to abandon the Kurds."

What now? With the West Bank in flames, the regional Pax America that seemed to have emerged from the gulf war appears to be falling apart. In this context, Washington would be wise to focus on the importance of ensuring America's credibility.

If the United States allows Saddam to secure his advances in northern Iraq, there will be repercussions. Both the Saudis and America's Persian Gulf allies will conclude that Saddam was correct in arguing that Washington had no staying power. Then, understandably, America's coalition partners will be reluctant to take part in military action against Baghdad.

Saddam isn't the only beneficiary of his invasion. Now that Operation Provide Comfort (created in 1991 to provide a safe haven for Iraqi Kurds) is little more than a shell, its military arm eliminated and Saddam's Kurdish proxy, Massoud Barzani, controlling most of northern Iraq -- Iran and Syria also have gained influence in that area. Iran, in fact, already has sent trained mercenaries into northern Iraq.

Moreover, Tehran can make direct use of the region to create a land link with Syria -- giving the Iranians access to the terror groups it sponsors in southern Lebanon and the West Bank.

As it happens, Iran, Syria and Iraq all are involved in sponsoring terror. And America's allies in Sau\di Arabia and the gulf face a threat from Iranian- and/or Syrian-backed terrorists. Even in the realm of conventional arms, the synergy is plain. The Iranian and Syrian armies enjoy interchangeable Russian equipment. Iran, meanwhile, also is working on extending the range of its Scud missile and has developed -- with the help of North Korea -- an upgraded missile that will have a range as far as 1,300 to 1,500 kilometers. Finally, Iran and Syria possess chemical weapons, too.

U.S. officials are reluctant to admit that Turkey, one of America's strongest gulf-war allies, has actually been urging Saddam to take control of northern Iraq. Since Tan\su Ciller became prime minister three years ago, Turkish policy has effectively focused on persuading Saddam to put an end to the British, French- and American-guaranteed Kurdish safe haven in northern Iraq. Many Turks fear that the zone in question might be transformed into an independent Kurdish state.

During a recent visit to the United States, Ciller -- now foreign minister -- denied an earlier statement she'd made to the effect that Ankara want\ed Saddam to control the zone above the 36th parallel. Still, Ciller made little effort to paper over U.S.-Turkish differences. Indeed, the foreign minister's message was: Either compensate Turkey for the money that it has lost since its oil pipeline with Iraq was shut down at the start of the gulf war, or expect Turkey to go its own way.

In other words, if Washington doesn't offer to pay Turkey for revenues it lost, Ankara will press for the lifting of sanctions on Iraq. In this context, Ciller made no apologies for the fact that the governing coalition to which she belongs is treating with Moammar Gadhafi's Libya in an effort to collect old debts. Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan plans to visit Libya this week.

Ciller, to be sure, did not reveal the fact that Erbakan reportedly is trying to lure Libyan assets to Turkey from foreign banks by offering higher interest rates -- thereby busting the sanctions on Libya. Nor did she note that Turkey's Islamist prime minister also plans to finalize an agreement for military exchanges with Libya.

While U.S. officials know that the Turks are delighted to be rid of the protected zone in northern Iraq, Washington is reluctant to acknowledge Ankara's real position. Acknowledged or not, the implications of the U.S.-Turkish split regarding northern Iraq are serious. Washington may prefer to redefine southern Iraq as key to U.S. interests, but northern Iraq still is vital to the United States. Beyond oil, there's the question of security in the gulf and, obviously, this question: If Saddam is willing to march north, why would he hesitate to strike southward?

The United States can do little to mitigate the anxiety of the gulf states and Saudi Arabia: Watching Saddam reassert hegemony over northern Iraq gives rise to entirely legitimate worries. In the end, the United States must deal with Sad\dam.

© Copyright 1996 The Washington Post Company

Nobel jurors agree on 1996 peace prize choice 12:03 Oct 02, 1996

OSLO, Oct 2 (Reuter) - Norway's Nobel Committee agreed on Wednesday on its choice for the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, but the world will have to wait until October 11 for the announcement of the winner's identity, a Nobel official said.

Nobel Institute Director Geir Lundestad said the secretive five-member committee, which had tentatively scheduled another meeting for October 8 in case of a deadlock, had now held its final discussions.

``It was a good meeting,'' he told Reuters. ``Our meetings usually last two to three hours and this one did so too. We reached a decision and it will be announced on October 11.''

The Norwegian press has speculated that Bosnian mediator Richard Holbrooke and U.S. President Bill Clinton are among the front-runners for the prestigious prize this year.

The 1995 peace laureate was veteran but little-known anti-nuclear campaigner Joseph Rotblat and his Pugwash organisation.

``We cannot have giant surprises like we had last year but we will see,'' Lundestad said enigmatically. ``I don't want to say anything more.''

He said 120 candidates, including 29 organisations, were nominated for the 1996 award, many repeated from last year's nominees. The deadline for nominations was January 31, but any application stamped before that date would be included on the list.

A shortlist of candidates was drawn up at the end of February. The selection process is shrouded in secrecy and the Nobel Committee refuses to reveal the shortlist or even the names of nominees.

Bosnia held its first post-war election last month, a central plank in the implementation of the 1995 Dayton treaty which Holbrooke almost single-handedly negotiated as assistant U.S. secretary of state.

Holbrooke, in Oslo to address the Nobel Foundation four weeks ago, said he did not want to think about reports that he had been nominated for the $1 million Peace Prize.

``I heard rumours but I know nothing about it and it is not something one wants to think about,'' he told reporters on September 5.

Lundestad emphasised last week that Holbrooke's visit to the Nobel Foundation as guest speaker to the Norwegian Atlantic Committee was not linked to the prize.

The Norwegian national news agency NTB has said the 1996 list includes several former nominees such as Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, jailed Kurdish politician Leyla Zana and jailed Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu

UN says oil-for-food aid in North Iraq is workable 13:55 Oct 02, 1996

BAGHDAD, Oct 2 (Reuter) - The head of UN relief efforts in Iraq said on Wednesday humanitarian aid worth $260 million could be distributed in Kurdish northern Iraq under a long-delayed food-for-oil deal despite recent unrest.

``My impression is that there is a possibility of humanitarian action,'' United Nations Assistant Secretary-General Gualtiero Fulcheri said.

Fulcheri, who is coordinating UN humanitarian work in Iraq, held three hours of talks on Sunday with the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Massoud Barzani, whose forces, backed initially by Baghdad, swept aside a rival Kurdish faction last month in the fight for control of northern Iraq.

Fulcheri said the Kurdish strongman made assurances for the safety of UN and other humanitarian staff in the region.

``I wanted to know if we needed to make changes in the plans that we had made for the north, whether the security of the people in the north could be protected by the new de facto authorities, or whether they didn't want them.

``I was reassured on all counts,'' Fulcheri, who has submitted a report on his trip to United Nations headquarters, said in an interview with Reuters in Baghdad.

Iraq's military foray in the north, where Kurdish rebels enjoyed a measure of self-rule since the end of the 1991 Gulf War, prompted punitive U.S. missile strikes and warnings that its long-awaited oil-for-food deal could be further delayed.

The accord was finally signed in May and would allow Iraq, crippled by six years of trade sanctions following its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, to export $2 billion of oil over six months to buy food and medicine and make limited war reparations.

Asked if implementation of the accord on the ground had been jeopardised by last month's conflict, Fulcheri said: ``Not from what we have seen so far.''

He said Barzani told him it would be easier to implement a humanitarian programme now because ``international organisations would have to deal with only one authority, and that would make life easier.''

``Somehow he gave me the impression he was trying to cool the game and maintain a certain stability in the area,'' Fulcheri said. ``I think that is certainly very strongly encouraged by everybody including the government of Iraq.''

Fulcheri said most of the immediate effects of the clashes in the north had subsided and large numbers who fled their houses fearing a sustained Iraqi army offensive had returned.

``I don't think the north is worse off than other parts of the country,'' he said.

But he added that people throughout Iraq, threatened by malnutrition, poor medical facilities and dwindling sources of clean water, faced a humanitarian emergency. The UN has appealed for $39.9 million of urgent assistance to Iraq.

``There is a state of emergency and it is country-wide. It is not limited to the north,'' Fulcheri said.

He said one positive development in the Kurdish northern provinces was that the opening of internal borders with the government-controlled provinces had allowed the free flow of kerosene heating fuel to the north.

``The crisis of fuel has gone down to levels which are comparable to the rest of the country,'' he said.

But food prices had risen, as northern traders saw opportunities for selling their goods in the south.

Fulcheri said the large numbers of armed men he saw on the streets of northern Iraq was also disturbing, but that it would be unrealistic to expect complete calm to emerge overnight in an area riven by decades of uprisings and internal rivalries