Iraqi Transport Minister Amir Abdul-Jabbar said on April 19 that Saddam Hussein's luxury yacht will soon be docked near Basra and used as a cruise boat for tourists, RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq reports.
He said the yacht has been brought from the French Riviera to the Greek port of Piraeus and that the boat will be taken to an Iraqi seaport as soon as the government pays the French crew's salaries, likely by May.
The luxurious yacht, built by a Danish firm in 1981, was used for several years by Saudi, Omani, and Jordanian officials and has been the subject of legal wrangling, before a French court decided it belonged to Iraq.
The yacht went up for sale in November, but the Iraqi government couldn't find a buyer.
-- Iraqi Service
He said the yacht has been brought from the French Riviera to the Greek port of Piraeus and that the boat will be taken to an Iraqi seaport as soon as the government pays the French crew's salaries, likely by May.
The luxurious yacht, built by a Danish firm in 1981, was used for several years by Saudi, Omani, and Jordanian officials and has been the subject of legal wrangling, before a French court decided it belonged to Iraq.
The yacht went up for sale in November, but the Iraqi government couldn't find a buyer.
-- Iraqi Service