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Kuwait Revokes Commitment To Agreement With Iraq
by Tareq Ayyoub
AMMAN, April 1 (IslamOnline) - Citing Iraqi intransigence, Kuwait's ambassador to Jordan, Faisal Masha'an, on Sunday said his country considers the document it submitted to the Arab summit to reach a breakthrough for the Kuwait-Iraq position as "null and void."
"We are not committed to any formula reached during the Arab summit because Iraq did not accept the compromise reached by the 16 Arab foreign ministers," Masha'an said.
"We have presented many concessions during the summit which was not reciprocated by the other side, so we consider what has been agreed upon as cancelled," the ambassador told IslamOnline.
The ambassador's statement came as confirmation of a news report by the London-based al-Hayat Arabic daily on Sunday in which Kuwait's foreign minister, Sheikh Sabah Al Jaber, was quoted as telling journalists that the emirate has "retreated from its previous stand it accepted during the summit."
During the two-day Arab summit, which ended last week, Kuwait agreed to proposals by Arab foreign ministers to resolve the Kuwait-Iraq position but Iraqi officials declined to accept the compromise formula.
Kuwait agreed "in principal" to lift sanctions against Iraq, resume operation of commercial flights to and from Baghdad and recognize Iraqi claims on missing Iraqis during the 1990-91 Gulf war.
But despite mediation by other Arab foreign ministers, Iraq refused to accept the compromise reached by these officials because they proposed an article that urges Iraq to "undertake necessary measures to maintain the sovereignty and security of the emirate."
The failure to reach an agreement triggered Arab foreign ministers to remove any indication to the Kuwait-Iraq position in the final communiqué and instead dedicated a few lines to this issue in what has come to be known as the "Amman Declaration".
The summit also requested King Abdullah II, in his capacity as summit President, to continue the mediation to resolve this deadlock.
"Iraq's refusal to accept the proposal has destroyed all efforts," Misha'an said.
"Therefore we consider the concessions we have submitted during the summit are cancelled," the ambassador said.
Misha'an said that his country now demands an Iraqi apology for the 1990 invasion of Kuwait and to pledge not to repeat what they did to Kuwait.
The ambassador said that Kuwait has decided to dispatch envoys to permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and "friendly countries" to explain its stand during the summit.
Among the countries these envoys are expected to visit are, the U.S., U.K., France, China, Iran and Turkey.
A Jordanian official said that Abdullah is expected to resume mediation between Kuwait and Iraq following his visit to the United States, scheduled to take place this month.
Meanwhile, Chairman of Joint Chief of Staffs of the Jordanian army, Lieutenant General Mohammad Malkawi, left Amman in a several-day visit to Kuwait, Misha'an said.
Malkawi's visit comes a few months after a similar step by his Kuwaiti counterpart who visited Jordan earlier in the year.
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