Showdown between Iraqi and Kuwait lawmakers continue

Jun 3, 2009, 13:52 GMT

Baghdad - A member of the Iraqi parliament on Wednesday called on his government to file a complaint to the UN Security Council against Kuwait for its part in supporting the US-led invasion to the country in 2003, local media reported.

'The Iraqi parliament is attempting to push the government to resort to the security council to have four trillion dollars in compensation from Kuwait as it allowed American forces to use its territory for the attack on Iraq and to cause damage and destruction of the country,' al-Sabah newspaper quoted independent MP Ezz al- Deim.

The statement is the latest in a week-long showdown between Iraqi and Kuwaiti parliamentarians triggered after Kuwait urged the United Nations on Thursday not to lift sanctions on Iraq before Baghdad paid back its debts and the remaining war reparations for the invasion of the Gulf state by former president Saddam Hussein nearly two decades ago.

Iraq has been urging the Security Council to lift the remaining sanctions, particularly those concerning war reparations. The move would enable the country to exit from the terms of Chapter 7 of the United Nations charter, which allow for the imposition of sanctions on states with respect to 'acts of aggression.'

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said during a recent visit to Baghdad that the world body is considering lifting all sanctions as the Security Council is due to conduct a review in June.

Kuwait, however, urged the UN to reconsider the move. Kuwaiti officials said their country has received about 13 billion dollars in war reparations from Iraq but another 25.5 billion dollars remain unpaid. Kuwaiti officials say that Baghdad owes their country around 16 billion dollars in other debt.

Five per cent of Iraqi oil revenues are transferred into a special UN fund for securing the reparations.

Kuwait officials also say that outstanding issues are still pending including the fate of missing persons and prisoners of war and the demarcation of land and maritime borders between the two neighbours.

In reaction, Iraqi members of parliament on Monday urged a halt to the reparation payments and demanded compensation for Iraqis who, they say, had been sacked by the Kuwaiti government following the 1991 'liberation war.'

'The Kuwaiti government sacked thousands of Iraqis after the 1991 war and confiscated their property,' Saad Safouk al-Massoudi told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Kuwaiti lawmakers on Tuesday urged their government to recall the ambassador from Baghdad in protest of what they saw as 'attacks' by Iraqi MPs.

Kuwait sent an ambassador to Baghdad in October 2008 for the first time since 1990.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi on Tuesday called for mending differences with Kuwait for the good of the two people, Aswat-al Iraq reported.

Al-Hasemi said he is holding separate meetings with Kuwaiti diplomatic representatives to discuss the Iraqi-Kuwait relations and contain the rift.