Britain's U.N. envoy on Tuesday endorsed Iraq's request to lower its war reparation payments to Kuwait but said any reduction would need the blessing of both Baghdad and the Kuwaiti authorities, Reuters reported.
After the 1991 Gulf war, the U.N. Security Council ordered Iraq to compensate countries that suffered as a result of its 1990-1991 occupation of neighboring Kuwait. Baghdad now must set aside 5 percent of its oil revenues for reparation payments, most of which go to Kuwait.
Iraq wants the council to cancel Iraq's obligation to pay reparations to Kuwait. It has asked U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to support its request to slash or even cancel the payments so the money can be used for investments inside Iraq.
British U.N. Ambassador John Sawers told Reuters in an interview he hoped all outstanding issues between Iraq and Kuwait -- including missing Kuwaiti citizens and archives, access to the sea and other issues -- will be resolved.
"We would like to be able to move forward so that ... all these issues can be agreed within the context of the existing border and within the context of a reduction of compensation payments by Iraq to Kuwait," he said.
"But that requires a degree of understanding between Baghdad and Kuwait, which is what we (the Security Council) are trying to build," said Sawers, who is the council president for the month of August.
In a report to the 15-nation Security Council last week, Ban mentioned Iraq's bilateral discussions with Kuwait on reparations, including Baghdad's idea of "converting the outstanding payments into investments."
...