Iraq Seeking Kuwait War Reparation Delay Min
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
SUBSCRIPTION SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2014 SAFAR 21, 1436 AH No: 16371 Groom, guests Strongest storm Maze storms arrested for in years batters to giant attacking4 cop California7 slalom48 win Iraq seeking Kuwait war reparation delay Min 08º 150 Fils UN commission may consider request Max 24º BAGHDAD: Iraq is seeking to postpone a final $4.6 billion install- ment of reparations for its 1990-91 occupation of Kuwait, Finance Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters, as it faces a cash crisis caused by falling oil prices and war with Islamic State. Since Iraq was first allowed to resume oil sales nearly two decades ago it has paid funds into a United Nations body overseeing compensation for looting and damage inflicted during Saddam Hussein’s seven- month occupation of Kuwait. More than a million claimants have been paid and nearly all the $52.4 billion reparations bill has been met through Iraq’s annual allocation of 5 percent of crude oil exports to the UN Compensation Commission (UNCC). But with its economy now set to shrink for the first time since the 2003 US-led invasion toppled Saddam and end- ed more than a decade of sanctions, Iraq can ill afford to divert a large chunk of the 2015 budget to make that last payment due next year. “We have been really committed to paying this on time up until now,” Zebari said in a telephone interview conducted on Thursday. “We are in discussions with the Kuwaitis, trying to defer the payment for two years or at least a year, to allow some space... to present a realistic budget.” A senior UNCC official in Geneva said no deci- sion had yet been made, and any BRUSSELS: Kuwait’s former prime minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah leaves the funeral service of the change would require the agreement late queen Fabiola at the Cathedral of St Michael and St Gudula yesterday. — AFP of the UNCC’s Governing Council, which has same 15 member states as the UN Security Council. “We are hearing the Governing Belgian queen Fabiola’s Hoshiyar Zebari Council will be considering the issue at a special session next week,” the offi- cial told Reuters, adding that a meeting had been tentatively set for funeral draws royalty Dec. 18 in Geneva. There was no immediate comment from Kuwaiti officials. BRUSSELS: Belgium yesterday laid to rest its much-loved Spanish family, was the fifth queen of the Belgians from her OPEC producer Iraq is suffering from the sharp fall in oil prices former queen Fabiola, the widow of the popular King marriage in 1960 until Baudouin’s death in 1993. She was and the Islamic State takeover in the north and west, which has Baudoin, in a rain-lashed funeral ceremony attended by roy- best remembered for bringing a much-needed spark to caused mass displacement of people, destruction of infrastructure als from across Europe and Asia. HH the Amir of Kuwait Baudouin, the “lonely king”. They had no children. and a sharp increase in military expenditure. Two weeks ago, after Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s representative Hundreds of mourners braved high winds and driving the latest oil price fall, it scrapped a draft 2015 budget and said it Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Japan’s rain to watch the cortege pass. “I came to pay tribute to a would cut back spending plans. Iraq needs Kuwait’s agreement to Empress Michiko, Denmark’s Queen Margrethe, Sweden’s women I felt like I had always known because she was very delay payment because the last, and largest, outstanding claim for King Carl XVI Gustaf and Thai Crown Princess Maha Chakri close to the people. And because the royalty is important for compensation comes from the emirate itself for damage to its oil Sirindhorn were among the mourners for the 86-year-old, Belgium’s unity,” mourner Christian Hanneuse, 61, told AFP facilities. who died a week ago. outside the cathedral. A day of solemn pageantry began More than 700 Kuwaiti oil wells were set on fire by Iraqi troops Soldiers on horseback accompanied the hearse that with Fabiola’s coffin, covered with the black, red and yellow retreating from the US-led operation Desert Storm to recapture it in took Fabiola’s flag-draped coffin to the Cathedral of Saints Belgian flag, being taken from the Royal Palace in Brussels January 1991. Some of them burned for 10 months. Iraq would also Michael and Gudula in Brussels for the funeral service, before where it has lain in state since Tuesday night. need to win broad international support for a deferral because its she was buried in the crypt at the royal church in Laeken. The cortege made its way to the cathedral a few hundred obligation to pay the money is enshrined in UN Security Council res- “King Baudoin and Queen Fabiola never stopped searching metres away for a service attended by around 1,000 people. for peace,” Princess Elisabeth, the 13-year-old heir to European royals turned out in force, with Spain’s former king olutions. “There is an understanding,” Zebari said. “Next week there Belgium’s current King Philippe, said in a speech at the Juan Carlos representing the country of Fabiola’s birth. will be some hectic diplomatic activity between Baghdad, Kuwait, funeral that she delivered in both French and Flemish. Morocco also sent members of its royal family, but Britain, Geneva and New York in order to present a joint request to post- Fabiola’s death sparked a week of national mourning in whose Queen Elizabeth II is one of the world’s longest serv- pone the payment.” A delay of one or two years would give Iraq Belgium, where the devout Catholic was seen as a unifying ing monarchs, was represented by its ambassador to “some breathing space”, he added. force in a country deeply divided between the two linguistic Belgium. “There are some long-standing commitments pre- Iraq’s repayments were first set at 30 percent and then 25 per- communities. Fabiola, who was born Dona Fabiola de Mora y venting the presence of members of the royal family at the cent of oil sales when it resumed limited exports under the UN oil- Aragon on June 11, 1928 in Madrid into an aristocratic funeral,” a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said. — AFP. for-food deal in 1996. The portion was cut to 5 percent after Saddam was overthrown in 2003 and sanctions were lifted. — Reuters LOCAL SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2014 Kuwait affirms commitment to regional security, stability DOHA: Head of Kuwait National Security Bureau (KNSB) Sheikh Thamer Al-Ali Al-Sabah said on Thursday that rapid developments in a number of Arab countries prompted Kuwait to double efforts in order to the securi- ty and stability of the region. In statements to KUNA here following the NATO and Gulf Security Conference, Sheikh Thamer said that Kuwait and other GCC countries recognized the rights of Egyptian people to determine their own destiny and choose their own political system in accordance with national interest of Egypt. The GCC states believe that the solution to crisis in Egypt lies in improving the “eco- nomic and living conditions,” he pointed out. On Iran, Sheikh Thamer said that Kuwait made its stance clear at all regional and international conferences regarding Iran’s nuclear program, and welcomed the interim agreement between the P5+1 and Iran. He stressed importance of accurate and complete execution to the agreement under the supervision of the DOHA: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during the opening of the NATO and Gulf Security conference. — AP International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). On Iraq, Sheikh Thamer said that Kuwait will continue to be supportive of the unity and stability of Iraq, con- Security threats require more firming that the stability of Iraq will positively affect the stability of the entire region. Sheikh Thamer added that Kuwait has always been international efforts: Qatar Minister proactive in assisting and supporting the peoples in the region, without being biased to governments or sects, or DOHA: Qatari Minister of State for Defense Affairs Maj Gen more concerted efforts by the North Atlantic Council-Istanbul category, indicating that Kuwait expressed in various Hamad Al-Attiyah said Thursday that major threats the world Cooperation Initiative member states in order to find a solu- international and regional forums on the need to end and Middle East are facing at present require more interna- tion to ongoing conflicts hitting such countries, the Qatari the Syrian crisis politically to save innocent lives and in tional efforts. minister urged. “We are certain that the NATO and partnership support the stability of the region. In a keynote speech at the NATO and Gulf Security countries could play a main role in addressing such chal- Sheikh Thamer also stressed on Kuwait keenness to Conference, the minister said the threats posed by the IS and lenges,” he pointed out. ensure an end to the suffering of Palestinians, including other extremist groups necessitate military action, a clear-cut But, the minister warned that unless concerted efforts were the end of destruction, displacement, siege, and confis- strategy to restore stability in Syria and a transparent strategy exerted by international stakeholders in this regard, the situa- cation of land and property by Israel. Sheikh Thamer also to support Syrian opposition forces and to help in taking Syria tion would further aggravate, thus putting the world security expressed concerns over the latest developments in out of its current crisis. system in jeopardy. Yemen and its effects on security in Gulf states.