PRAGUE, Sept 13 (AFP) - Several Iraqi officials have asked the Czech Republic to supply their country with weapons due to a severe shortage, Czech daily Pravo reported Monday.
According to the newspaper three Iraqi officials, Culture Minister Mufid al-Jazairi, Water Resources Minister Abdul Latif Rashid and Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani, have mentioned the country's interest in acquiring arms from the Czechs due to mounting violence related to rebels and criminal gangs in Iraq.
Pravo, quoting several sources, said the requests were made during official visits to the Czech Republic this summer.
"The situation is really critical. Faced with perfectly armed terrorists, who have missile launchers and machine guns, we don't have but Kalashnikovs," an unnamed Iraqi official told Pravo.
"The Americans actually prevent us from completing our equipment. For example, when the United Arab Emirates sent us armoured carriers, US soldiers in the port of Basra removed the machine guns from them. In view of the situation, the state authorities unfortunately can only buy weapons on the black market, among others," the official added.
The guards protecting the central authorities in Baghdad also acquire weapons this way, he said.
The Czech foreign ministry said that if Prague did supply weapons to Iraq, it would strictly observe its international commitments, Pravo reported.
"Any possible sale of weapons to Iraq will be subjected to the standard licence procedure under the internationally acknowledged Code, in order to guarantee that they would not be abused," the ministry told the paper in a statement.
Al-Jazairi has close contacts with the Czech Republic. He studied journalism in Prague, married a Czech, speaks the language and his son works for state-owned Czech Television in Moscow.