Baghdad's airport reopens amid dispute
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-27 16:59

Baghdad's airport reopened Monday amid a contract dispute between a British security firm and the Iraqi government that led to a 48-hour shutdown.

Global Strategies Group temporarily suspended its management of security operations at the airport Friday, saying there were "unresolved commercial issues" with Iraq's Transport Ministry. About 500 Global employees handle security at Baghdad's airport.

Commercial flights resumed Monday morning, said Tark al-Najar, an Iraqi Airways spokesman.

London-based GSG and the previous Iraqi government, which left office on April 28, had reached an oral financial agreement, Transport Minister Salam al-Maliki said Sunday. He said the company demanded a new contract and more money as a condition to return.

In London, Paul Simington, director of Middle East operations for Global Strategies Group, said the company wanted to meet with al-Maliki, adding that the minister had failed to turn up at previous arranged meetings.

He also denied the company was trying to charge more. "That is a completely false statement. In fact we have reduced our prices," he told The Associated Press by phone from Dubai.

Simington said GSG wanted the Iraqi government to sign a work contract. He said GSG's work since the start of March had gone unpaid.

Simington said GSG had asked staff to stop working for a 48-hour period. Employees were scheduled to resume work Sunday evening.

Global Strategies Group took over security at the airport in June 2004. Passenger traffic has mushroomed since then from two to three flights per week to over 50 per day, the company said.

The firm, which also manages security at the Green Zone in central Baghdad, has about 1,100 workers on the ground in Iraq — mainly armed former Nepalese and Fijian soldiers. The heavily fortified Green Zone houses Iraqi government offices, parliament and the U.S. Embassy.