Evidently there was a second meeting.
Iraq presses for cut in war reparations to Kuwait
16 hours ago
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — Iraq's UN Ambassador on Thursday called for a reduction in his country's reparations to neighboring Kuwait over the 1991 Gulf War.
"Up until April 2009, Iraq has paid 27.1 billion dollars of the total compensation," Hamid al-Bayati said during a UN Security Council meeting on the activities of the UN assistance mission to Iraq (UNAMI).
"However, there are 25.5 billion dollars still due which is a heavy burden on Iraq, which needs the money for services, reconstruction and development," he said.
Iraq currently pays five percent of its oil revenues in war reparations to a special UN fund for its 1991 invasion of its tiny oil-rich neighbor.
"Our demand is to reduce the percentage," Bayati told reporters.
Diplomats said Bayati suggested in closed-door council consultations that the percentage paid by Iraq should drop to 2.5 percent.
Iraq wants the Security Council to accept that it no longer poses a threat to international security, the pretext for the sanctions imposed on Saddam Hussein's regime and for the 1991 Gulf War in which his forces were evicted from Kuwait.
But Kuwait insists there should be no change in the Council's position until its resolutions have been fully complied with.
These require Iraq to satisfy Kuwaiti demands on reparations and the return of property, as well as demarcation of their shared border and the repatriation of the remains of prisoners of war.
Members of parliament in the two countries have traded accusations, with Iraqi MPs urging Kuwait to forgive tens of billions of dollars in reparations and debt, and also renegotiate the demarcation of the border.
Meanwhile the UN Security Council on Thursday reaffirmed its commitment to Iraq's "independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity" and stressed the importance of the country's stability and security "for its people, the region and the international community."
In a non-binding statement read out by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, whose country chairs the council this month, the 15-member body also praised outgoing UNAMI chief Staffan de Mistura for "his strong leadership."
The world body announced this week that after almost two years on the job, de Mistura, a Swede, was quitting as special envoy for Iraq to become deputy executive director of the World Food Program.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iUAk3WpPITU1VE6ydeYkOobN7BVg
Iraq presses for cut in war reparations to Kuwait
16 hours ago
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — Iraq's UN Ambassador on Thursday called for a reduction in his country's reparations to neighboring Kuwait over the 1991 Gulf War.
"Up until April 2009, Iraq has paid 27.1 billion dollars of the total compensation," Hamid al-Bayati said during a UN Security Council meeting on the activities of the UN assistance mission to Iraq (UNAMI).
"However, there are 25.5 billion dollars still due which is a heavy burden on Iraq, which needs the money for services, reconstruction and development," he said.
Iraq currently pays five percent of its oil revenues in war reparations to a special UN fund for its 1991 invasion of its tiny oil-rich neighbor.
"Our demand is to reduce the percentage," Bayati told reporters.
Diplomats said Bayati suggested in closed-door council consultations that the percentage paid by Iraq should drop to 2.5 percent.
Iraq wants the Security Council to accept that it no longer poses a threat to international security, the pretext for the sanctions imposed on Saddam Hussein's regime and for the 1991 Gulf War in which his forces were evicted from Kuwait.
But Kuwait insists there should be no change in the Council's position until its resolutions have been fully complied with.
These require Iraq to satisfy Kuwaiti demands on reparations and the return of property, as well as demarcation of their shared border and the repatriation of the remains of prisoners of war.
Members of parliament in the two countries have traded accusations, with Iraqi MPs urging Kuwait to forgive tens of billions of dollars in reparations and debt, and also renegotiate the demarcation of the border.
Meanwhile the UN Security Council on Thursday reaffirmed its commitment to Iraq's "independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity" and stressed the importance of the country's stability and security "for its people, the region and the international community."
In a non-binding statement read out by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, whose country chairs the council this month, the 15-member body also praised outgoing UNAMI chief Staffan de Mistura for "his strong leadership."
The world body announced this week that after almost two years on the job, de Mistura, a Swede, was quitting as special envoy for Iraq to become deputy executive director of the World Food Program.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iUAk3WpPITU1VE6ydeYkOobN7BVg
