Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – January 4, 1997

I was at home. It was time to rest and study. I wrote the memories of yesterday, which is the last day of my trip to Ilam; There are some remaining points that I will add today.

The day before the trip, it had rained a lot in the province and the weather was sunny all the days of the visit, which people interpreted as the special favor of God for this trip. The coordination of managers, representatives and clergy was good. In one of the deprived villages of Dareh Shahr Valley, a livestock farmer had 400 sheep and donated 50 sheep for the cost of the welcome ceremony. I told Mr. [Jalil] Besharti, [Head of the Deprived Regions Affairs Office], to use the sheep for the construction of a mosque or some other good work, and I will pay the extra costs myself.

[Mr. Shabani Fard], the governor, and [Mr. Yasoubi], the Friday imam, tried to be with each other everywhere. On the routes, helicopters and ceremonies were by my side. In most cases, the governor could answer questions about the state of the province, and sometimes he was wrong; But overall it is a lot of effort.

Dr. Velayati, [Minister of Foreign Affairs], spoke on the phone about the trip to Türkiye for Group D-8 and the upcoming trip to Italy and got opinions. Before noon, Mohsen came and had lunch with Yasir and Maryam. Mr. Hossein Marashi, [Kerman representative] came. He talked about the [presidential] elections and the candidates for the brokers. In the reports, the retreat of the President of Serbia in front of the people and the continued hostage taking of Tupac Amaro's guerrillas in Peru are of interest.