More than 47 countries to take part in Iraq's Babylon Festival
              BAGHDAD, Sept 20 (AFP) - More than 47
              countries will take part in the 10-day Babylon cultural festival which opens on September 22 in sanctions-hit Iraq,
              Information Minister Human Abdel Khaleq said Wednesday.

              "Several artistic groups representing more than 47 friendly countries will take part in the Babylon festival," the
              official INA news agency quoted Khaleq as saying.

              Their participation in the festival bore "witness to the solidarity of several countries with Iraq in its struggle to get
              the embargo lifted and put a stop to the plots by the US and British administrations, supported by the Saudi and
              Kuwaiti regimes," he said.

              According to the festival organisers, the Arab countries participating include Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco,
              Sudan, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.

              The annual festival in the historic city of Babylon, some 90 kilometresmiles) south of the Iraqi capital, was
              launched in 1987. Last year, 38 countries took part.

              But the 1990 and 1991 festivals were scrapped because of the Gulf crisis sparked by Iraq's 1990 invasion of
              Kuwait. Baghdad has since been under crippling UN sanctions.