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.
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