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Kuwait Protests "Greater Iraq" Claim
KUWAIT CITY (News Agencies) - Kuwait has protested to the U.N. Security Council and Arab League at a renewed Iraqi claim over its territory, Foreign Minister Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah was quoted as saying Wednesday.
"We have submitted a letter of protest to the Security Council and another to the Arab League in response to continued threats from Iraq," Sheikh Sabah said, quoted by Al-Anba newspaper.
MP Uday Saddam Hussein, elder son of the Iraqi president, renewed claims to Kuwait as forming part of a "Greater Iraq," in an excerpt of a report to parliament released Monday.
He called for the National Assembly "to prepare a map of the whole of Iraq, including Kuwait City as an integral part of Greater Iraq."
"The current map of Iraq, which is the emblem of the National Assembly, does not include all Iraq's borders as known by the people in all their components, namely Kuwait City."
A foreign ministry official in Kuwait, quoted by the KUNA news agency, described the statement as "aggressive and infringing on Kuwait's sovereignty."
It "represents a clear violation of the Security Council resolutions, reflects the aggressive intentions of the Iraqi regime against the state of Kuwait," and was "a direct and flagrant threat to security and stability in the region."
Sheikh Sabah's deputy, Majed al-Shahin, later met ambassadors of the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States), KUNA said.
He told them that "Kuwait's threats against Iraq puts Baghdad's respect for U.N. resolutions in doubt."
In Damascus, Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara expressed in a phone call to Sabah his country's support for the territorial integrity of Kuwait, the official SANA news agency reported.
That call dealt with what SANA said were "certain Iraqi declarations ... on the Gulf war and its painful impact on relations between Iraq and Kuwait.
Syria's "position stems from the need to preserve the solidarity of Arab states and to unify their positions in support of the [Palestinian] Intifada and in the rejection of Israeli threats ... against the entire Arab nation," SANA said.
In Abu Dhabi, meanwhile, United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed al-Nahyan said the Iraqi declarations "further complicate the political situation, are of a nature that raises tension in the [Gulf] region and threaten its security and stability."
Quoted by the official WAM news agency, Sheikh Hamdan said any threat made against Kuwait "constitutes a threat against all the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council."
The GCC groups Kuwait and the UAE, as well as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.
Sheikh Hamdan added that Uday Hussein's allegations "do not contribute to the confidence necessary for the reintegration of Iraq into Arab ranks, but are aimed rather at sowing discord" in the Arab world.
The renewal of Iraqi claims over Kuwait came during the 10th anniversary of the Gulf War, triggered by Baghdad's invasion of the emirate on August 2, 1990, and its annexation as Iraq's 19th province.
A U.S.-led multinational coalition evicted Iraqi occupation forces in February 1991 at the end of the six-week conflict. Three years later, Iraq officially recognized the state of Kuwait and its U.N.-demarcated borders.
Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz told a press conference in Baghdad on Tuesday that Uday was voicing a personal opinion.
"Uday is a member of the National Assembly. It is his personal point of view and he can express it in all freedom," Aziz told a press conference, while at the same defending the invasion.
"The leaders of Kuwait deserved to be attacked on August 2nd because they are traitors," he said.
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