Coalition working to get Iraq's postal service up and running
The US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) is working to get Iraq’s postal service fully up and running, hoping that the reopening of Baghdad airport will boost the current slow delivery process.
“1,400 postal bags of mail were collected last week at the border with Jordan, and they’ve been processed,” said Sergeant Kent Chicosky, CPA spokesman for postal operations.
Some 45 of Iraq’s 69 post offices that reopened at end-April are currently operational. Thirteen others were destroyed or badly damaged during the US-led war to topple Saddam Hussein’s regime.
The coalition is counting on the reopening of the airport to give services a boost, though no date has yet been set for this.
“Once the airport is open, we can have rotations on daily basis, it will speed up the delivery process,” Chicosky said.
Chicosky said that any mail addressed to Saddam Hussein and his erstwhile ministers is handed over to the US army for inspection.
“People can mail out letters, no packages, but they can receive packages and letters,” he said, adding that there were no X-ray machines in use which would allow letters and parcels to be checked for weapons or looted antiquities.
“Last week we sent 122 kilograms (270 pounds) of mail, and 750 (1,650 pounds) this week,” Chicosky said.
A letter sent from the northern city of Arbil arrives three days later in Najaf, 200 kilometres (120 miles) south of Baghdad. Count on seven to 10 days for a letter to reach the United States.
The coalition continues to use stamps printed by the former regime but has banned featuring Saddam’s head. It will make sure that stamps issued in the future will bear no ethnic, religious or political references.
Prices of stamps range from 100 dinars (five US cents) for inside Iraq to 250 dinars (12 cents) for neighbouring countries and 500 dinars (25 cents) for Europe and the United States.
The CPA will soon draw up a protectionist law to prevent private postal companies cornering the market, Chicosky said.
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