Saddam's invasion still hurting Iraq-Kuwait ties 20 years on

By Prashant Rao

BAGHDAD, Aug 01, 2010 (AFP) - Wounds from Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait 20 years ago still run deep and mar ties between the two neighbours despite efforts to overcome what has been described as the Iraqi ex-dictator's worst mistake.

The August 2 assault was rapidly met with a concerted international military response that pushed Saddam's forces out of the emirate and eventually led to his ouster by a US-dominated coalition in 2003.

As a result of that invasion, Iraq continues to pay war reparations to Kuwait, and disagreements over the two countries' land and maritime borders persist.

"This was one of the most dreadful decisions he (Saddam) ever, ever took," Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told AFP.

"Really, Iraq has been suffering from that decision ever since -- the sanctions, the (UN) Security Council resolution. Over the last seven years, I, as a foreign minister, have been struggling to get my country back to where it was before August 2nd."

Since 1994, when the United Nations set up a reparations fund, Iraq has repaid 30.15 billion dollars to Kuwait, with a further 22.3 billion dollars in compensation still due.

Baghdad is required to put five percent of its oil and gas revenues into the fund.

That is in addition to an estimated eight billion dollars in bilateral debt and around one billion dollars owed to Kuwait as a result of a court judgment over a dispute between the two countries' state airlines.

Those obligations remain crippling to a country where infrastructure and the economy are in dire need of rebuilding after having been hammered by years of violence and sanctions.

"Until Iraq achieves internal stability and the government is capable of achieving a unitary foreign policy... Iraq-Kuwait relations will remain a controversial subject," Massouma al-Mubarak, the chair of the Kuwaiti parliament's foreign affairs committee, told AFP.

"The wounds are very deep," she added. "It is very difficult for us to forget, but we are trying to turn a new page in Kuwait-Iraq relations."

Crucial issues between the two countries remain unresolved, chief among which is the agreement of land and maritime borders which the United Nations officially demarcated in the early 1990s.

While Saddam accepted those borders, set out in Security Council Resolution 833, the current Iraqi government has yet to do so, a decision described by Zebari as "political."

"I was hoping... to resolve this before the end of this year, to close this chapter," he said.

The minister noted that "the government felt it would not be well-received by the public" because of elections that took place on March 7.

There was concern the decision would "backfire" and so "we left it for the next government to come and decide."

Diplomats question, however, whether Iraq's foot-dragging over its acceptance of Resolution 833 has more to do with its desire to use it as a bargaining chip in talks with Kuwait.

"Kuwait is radically opposed to any revision of the border," a senior diplomat based in Baghdad said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The present reticence of Iraq only reinforces Kuwait's defiance and its hostility to any initiative which could put in question the present demarcation of the border."

The two countries are cooperating, though, on issues related to the return of the remains of Kuwaitis and Iraqis killed during the conflict, and on Kuwait's demands that its property and archives be handed back.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the fates of more than 300 missing persons -- 215 Kuwaitis, 82 Iraqis and several people of other nationalities -- have been clarified as of November 2009.

Zebari said the remains of 265 people out of about 600 declared missing since the invasion have been returned to Kuwait, while Iraq has cooperated in returning Kuwaiti archives and documents.

Improved ties, which must include the acceptance by Baghdad of their shared border, will be key to the lifting of sanctions related to Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which label Iraq a threat to international security.

But while Iraq insists it is fulfilling its international obligations, the ultimate decision on its Chapter 7 status lies with the Security Council.

The Security Council's "current line is to move on Iraqs request for exit from Chapter 7, but not at the expense of Kuwaiti security and interest," the senior Baghdad-based diplomat said.

"It is not inclined today to compromise its long-term interests in a stable and rich Kuwait for still uncertain gains in Iraq."

psr/hkb/dv/bm