Paris, 23 June (AKI) - Saddam Hussein's 170
presidential palaces are set to be transformed into
libraries and cultural centres, Iraq's culture
minister, Nuri Farhan al-Rawi, has announced.
Speaking in Paris at a United Nations Economic
Social and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
conference, the minister said the Iraqi government
has asked Washington's cultural attache in Baghdad
for the go-ahead on the project.
Most of the palaces are currently housing American
and British troops, part of the US-led coalition
force which toppled Saddam in 2003.
The two-day UNESCO conference also focused on the
smuggling and illicit trade in art treasures from
war-ravaged areas such as Iraq. To date, the
authorities have recovered some 4,000 artifacts out
of a total of 15,000 plundered from Baghdad's
national museum.
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Saddam Hussein
Photo : AP |
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