ARBIL, Jun 04, 2009 (AFP) - The president of Iraq's autonomous region of Kurdistan said on Thursday it was not in Iraq's interests to enter a new crisis with Kuwait, amid a deepening row between the two over war reparations.
He urged Baghdad and Kuwait City to settle their dispute through dialogue, echoing comments on Wednesday by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who met with Kuwait's ambassador over the issue.
"It is not in the interests of the Iraqi people to enter into a new crisis with the state of Kuwait, and we feel there are those who are exploiting the situation by putting out political slogans about relations with Kuwait," he said in a statement.
The Kurdish chief added that he believed "there are some who are trying to worsen the situation and want to deepen the crisis, and this situation could lead to serious risks."
He stressed "the need to sit at the table for dialogue to reach common solutions ... and we call for a stop to the media campaigns and to deal with these issues by diplomatic means."
Relations between the neighbours have taken a sharp turn for the worse in recent weeks, with Kuwait launching a diplomatic offensive over war reparations stemming from Iraq's 1990 invasion.
At the same time Iraqi MPs have urged a halt to such transfers, with some demanding the Kuwaiti emirate compensate Baghdad for its role in the US-led 2003 invasion.
Barzani backed the calls for an end to payment of reparations, saying that while he understood the "suffering of the ... people of Kuwait" it was "impossible to make the Iraqi people and the current government bear the mistakes of the barbaric and destructive policies of the former regime."
In Kuwait City on Wednesday, special UN envoy to Iraq Staffan de Mistura called for restraint by both sides.
Mistura said he discussed with Kuwait parliament speaker Jassem al-Khorafi unresolved issues between Iraq and Kuwait with regard to the 1990 invasion.
Khorafi told reporters after the meeting that Kuwait is willing to resolve outstanding issues with Iraq through diplomatic and official channels.
The UN Security Council imposed crippling sanctions on Iraq after Saddam's invasion of Kuwait.
Aside from war reparations, most sanctions were lifted in the wake of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but an arms embargo and some financial restrictions remain in place.
Iraq currently pays five percent of its oil revenue to a special UN fund. Kuwait has received about 13 billion dollars from Iraq, but a further 25.5 billion dollars remains unpaid.
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Copyright AFP 2009.
