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Jordan Taking Lead In Iraq-Kuwait Reconciliation
by Tareq Ayyoub
AMMAN, March 20 (IslamOnline) - King Abdullah of Jordan on Tuesday held two separate meetings with the foreign ministers of Iraq and Kuwait, Mohammad Saeed Sahaf and Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, respectively, amid news reports that Jordan was looking for a "reconciliatory formula" that satisfy the two countries.
During meetings with King Abdullah, the two officials submitted letters from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the emir of Kuwait Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah.
Following his meeting with Prime Minister Ali Abul Ragheb, Sahaf said that Saddam is not expected to attend the upcoming Arab summit, scheduled for March 27th in Amman.
The minister said that Iraq is keen to ensure the success of the summit, but added that there is no chance that conciliation between Baghdad and Kuwait could be achieved during the two-day summit.
"If the summit wants to review the Iraqi file, it should seriously discuss the lifting of the sanctions," the minister said following his meeting with Abul Ragheb.
"Any issue that pertain to Iraq could be debated in the summit clearly and in a very objective way to find an Arab solution to this issue," Sahaf said.
Abul Ragheb, for his part, said that Jordan was mediating to find reconciliation between Iraq and Kuwait.
"We are looking for a position of reconciliation between Iraq and Kuwait as well as a mechanism which will take into consideration Kuwait's interest," the premier told reporters.
"We hope that the Amman summit will adopt a position one step ahead from the resolutions taken at the Islamic summit of Doha," Agence France Presse quoted Abul Ragheb as saying.
The prime minister indicated that there is a "consensus" among Arabs that the 11-year-old sanctions be lifted.
"The sanctions depend on the U.N. Security Council and therefore, the Arab summit can only adopt a compromise position that takes into consideration the humanitarian situation in Iraq," Abul Ragheb said.
During the Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo earlier this month, the Arab League agreed to form a trilateral committee, which groups Jordan, Egypt and Qatar, to come with proposals to end the Kuwait-Iraq crisis, which erupted following Iraq's 1990-91 seven-month occupation of Kuwait.
Kuwait said that it would not reconciliate with Iraq unless Baghdad apologizes for the invasion and releases what it describes as Kuwaiti prisoners in Iraq. Iraq has repeatedly denied that it holds any Kuwaiti prisoners and states that it is ready to cooperate with investigation efforts on the fate of "missing Kuwaitis".
Following his arrival to Amman, Sabah told reporters that Iraq should meet "some condition" ahead of any reconciliation between the two neighboring countries.
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