Kuwait to discuss war payment in historic Iraq visit

The Gulf state's prime minister will travel to Baghdad in the first high-level visit since the 1990 invasion.

BAGHDAD // Kuwait's prime minister will travel to Baghdad this week in the Gulf state's first high-level visit to Iraq since Saddam Hussein invaded his tiny neighbour in 1990, an Iraqi government official said today. Kuwait's prime minister Sheikh Nasser al Mohammad al Sabah will meet his Iraqi counterpart, Nouri al Maliki, during the visit, the official said on condition of anonymity. The leaders will discuss reparations for Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait, debts and borders, he said.

Iraq's al Bayan newspaper said Mr Sabah would meet other officials during the visit. Neither the Iraqi official nor the newspaper gave a date for the trip. Precise travel arrangements for visiting leaders are usually kept secret for security reasons. As Iraq seeks to rebuild after five years of bloodshed, its government is hoping for reconsideration of the percentage of its oil exports earmarked for a Geneva-based fund set up to settle post-conflict damage claims from the invasion of Kuwait.

Under UN-imposed peace terms after the war, Iraq must pay five per cent of oil income in compensation to Kuwait and other countries. Iraq was driven out of Kuwait in 1991 by a US-led, UN-authorised coalition. Some US$24.4 billion in compensation claims had been paid from the UN fund as of April, but more than $28bn remains to be paid, according to the fund's website. Kuwait has said that any changes to the reparations scheme must be decided by the UN Security Council.

Since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein, Washington has been pressing its Arab allies to forgive Iraqi debts and to restore high-level diplomatic ties. In August, Jordan's King Abdullah became the first Arab leader to visit Iraq since 2003, and other regional countries are taking steps to resume full relations. Today, Iraq's national media centre reported that Saudi Arabia would soon open an embassy in Iraq, but did not say when. Baghdad is also seeking forgiveness of loans Kuwait made to Iraq during its 1980-1988 war with Iran. Yet many Kuwaitis are still bitter about the 1990 invasion.

The UAE recently waived all of Iraq's almost $7bn obligations. *Reuters