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WORLD
THE BATTALION
3A
Monday, April 21, 2003
China fires mayor, health official
as number of SARS deaths jumps
Saddam’s son-in-law
in custody, Iraqis say
By William Foreman
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIJING — Jolted by a jump
in SARS deaths and a tenfold
increase in infections in Beijing
alone, China’s Communist Party
stripped the health minister and
the capital’s mayor of power
Sunday. It also canceled an annu
al weeklong holiday for tens of
millions of people to keep them
from traveling and curb the
spread of the disease.
Just hours after announcing
12 new deaths nationwide, the
official Xinhua News Agency
said Health Minister Zhang
Wenkang and Beijing Mayor
Meng Xuenong were removed
from their Communist Party
posts but kept their government
titles. The reported number of
infections in Beijing increased
from 37 to 346.
The party is the true power in
China, and Zhang’s and Meng’s
party posts were far more impor
tant than their government
offices. Their loss left the two
men greatly diminished as politi
cal figures and possibly fore
shadows their demotion or out
right ouster from government.
The dismissals came two
days after President Hu Jintao
threatened serious punishment
for officials who didn’t quickly
and accurately report cases of
SARS, or severe acute respira
tory syndrome.
Last week, Chinese leaders
had declared fighting SARS a
national priority after weeks of
criticism that the communist
government reacted too slowly to
the mysterious, deadly outbreak.
The illness is believed to have
originated in China.
Gao Qiang, an executive vice
health minister, said the decision
to cancel the May Day holiday
beginning May 1 was made “to
prevent the massive movement of
people and the possible spread of
the disease.”
He acknowledged that the
move “will mean massive losses
in tourism revenue, but people’s
lives and health had to be put
above everything.”
May Day, the international
holiday celebrating the workers
of the world, has become a major
way for China to boost its travel
industry and pump cash into the
economy.
In China, May Day, the
Spring Festival and October’s
one-week National Day vacation
set in motion one of largest mass
movements of humanity on the
planet.
The new fatalities raised
China’s death toll to 79 and its
total number of reported cases to
1,814, Gao told a news confer
ence. The most dramatic jump
was in Beijing.
In a rare admission, Gao said
his ministry was not properly
prepared for the outbreak and
didn't give “clear instructions or
effective guidance.”
But he denied that SARS
cases were intentionally hidden
from investigators, warning that
“any such act will be severely
punished.”
The first known SARS case
occurred in southern China’s
Guangdong province last
November, but no cases were
disclosed until February. As
SARS began to spread around
the world, China faced allega
tions that it wasn't sharing all of
its statistics.
So far, officials have not
detected the spread of SARS in
large rural areas, Gao said. He
noted that fanners have lower
incomes and less access to med
ical care. If the outbreak hit the
countryside, he said, “the conse-
China reports dozens more SARS cases
China reported a jump in the number of deaths from SARS and a
tenfold increase in the number of infected people in the capital
Beijing on Sunday. There are 3,547 cases reported worldwide and
182 deaths from the disease.
• Deaths
o Recovered
No local transmission
Local transmission
Reported SARS cases
Canada-132
• 12
054
United —
States-220
O(NA)
'One death
attributed to
Hong Kong
occurred in a
case medically
transferred from
Vietnam.
NA-not available
France-5-
01
Brrtain-6-
*05 J
Ireland-1 ]
; .9 1 I
Spain-1--
Brazit-2
Italy-3-
Ik. 02
Romania-1 -
01
Mongolia-3 —
03
- Switzerland-1
01
Germany-6
Sweden-3
India-1
01
1
Kuwait-1
Thailand-7 J
• 2
06
Malaysia-5 -
• 1
South Africa-1
International figures as of April 19, 4 p.m. GMT
China-1,512
• 65
01,140
Hong
Kong*-1,358
• 81
O 363
Japan-4
r—Taiwan-29
I 017
t— Philippines-1
0,1
Indonesia-1
Vietnam-63
• 5 £■
046
Australia-3
03
Singapore-177
• 16
0100
SOURCES: World Health Organization
quences would be grim.”
Across Asia, .governments
weighed tougher measures in
their struggle to stop the out
break that has killed at least 205
people worldwide and infected
more than 3,800 — most of
them in Asia.
Singapore ordered all 2,400
workers at its largest wholesale
vegetable market quarantined
and shut the market for 10 days
after several SARS cases were
reported there.
Dozens of police in face
masks barricaded the Pasir
Panjang Wholesale Center to
keep people out. The closure will
cause a “significant disruption”
of vegetable supplies in the city-
state, the government said.
After reporting a record 12
AP
deaths in a single day Saturday,
Hong Kong reported seven more
Sunday as officials began re
evaluating the drug treatment
being used in the modern
metropolis — one of the world’s
hardest-hit places with 88 deaths.
Although there is no evi
dence the virus can be transmit
ted through blood, South Korea
was considering banning blood
donations by people recently
returned from China, Hong
Kong, Singapore and Vietnam.
Indonesia deployed troops to
help nurses and doctors examine
Indonesian workers returning
from SARS-hit countries.
Several governments have
urged their citizens to avoid
unnecessary travel to China.
By Charles J. Hanley
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD. Iraq
Saddam Hussein’s son-in-law
has left the Syrian capital and
surrendered to the Iraqi
National Congress in Baghdad,
a spokesman in London said
Sunday.
One of Saddam’s top body
guards was also arrested Sunday
by the group, the spokesman
said. And U.S. Central
Command said Iraq’s minister
of higher education and scientif
ic research was apprehended by
coalition troops.
Jamal Mustafa Abdallah
Sultan al-Tikriti is married to
Saddam’s youngest daughter,
Hala, and was deputy head of
the Tribal Affairs Office in
Saddam’s ousted regime.
Dubbed by the U.S. military as
the nine of clubs in its deck of
most wanted, he ranks No. 40
out of the 55 top Iraqi officials
sought by the allies.
“There have been some
negotiations until he was per
suaded to come to Baghdad and
surrender to our people in
Baghdad,” said Haider Ahmed,
a spokesman for the congress, a
London-based umbrella group
of Saddam opponents.
He said he did not know pre
cisely when al-Tikriti surren
dered, but believed it was
Sunday. Al-Tikriti had been
persuaded to leave Damascus
and surrender in Baghdad,
Ahmed said.
He said his information
came “from my colleagues in
Baghdad.”
Al-Tikriti was being ques
tioned by intelligence officers
of the Free Iraqi Forces on
Sunday and would be turned
over to the U.S. military “in a
matter of hours, not days,”
Ahmed said.
Entifadh Qanbar, the con
gress’ liaison to U.S. Central
Command in Qatar, said it was
“our general policy is to turn
over war criminals to the
Americans.”
He said al-Tikriti is in his
mid-30s and had no information
about the whereabouts of the
daughter.
Officials at Central
Command said they had heard
the reports but could not con-
ftmi the sunender. Syrian offi
cials were not immediately
available for comment on al-
Tikriti’s reported surrender.
The report conies as
President Bush applauded signs
Sunday that Syria is beginning
to heed American demands for
cooperation against Saddam’s
defunct regime.
Tensions between the United
States and Syria escalated after
reports surfaced that members
of Saddam’s deposed govern
ment had crossed the border to
flee the U.S.-led war.
Syrian President Bashar
Assad told two U.S. congress
men Sunday that the country
will not give asylum to war
crimes suspects from Iraq and
will expel any Iraqi who should
cross the border. Reps. Nick
Rahall, D-W.Va., and Darrell
Issa, R-Calif., visiting
Damascus, described the Syrian
president as eager to deal with
U.S. concerns.
Ahmed said al-Tikriti was
accompanied from Syria by one
of Saddam’s top bodyguards,
who also was arrested Sunday
by the Iraqi National Congress.
Khalid Hmood was the head
of Iraqi intelligence during the
war and ranked a major in
Saddam’s personal security
detail, according to Ahmed.
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