Saddam's Speech Impedes Restoration of Kuwaiti-Iraqi Relations: OIC

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 12, 2002

Saddam's Speech Impedes Restoration of Kuwaiti-Iraqi Relations: OIC

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The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) stressed Wednesday that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's recent speech on Kuwait undermines efforts of restoring relations between the two countries, Kuwait's official KUNA news agency reported.

The OIC Secretary General Abdelouhed Belkziz was quoted as saying that the OIC has spared no effort to mitigate the fraying relations between Kuwait and Iraq.

Belkziz called for two sides' self-restraint and toning down of rhetoric of all parties concerned while urging for Iraq's full compliance with the relevant United Nations resolutions.

On Saturday night, the Iraqi president made his first apology to the Kuwaiti people while blamed the Kuwaiti authorities for the run-up to Iraq's 1990 invasion into Kuwait.

He called on "the devoted and the holy warriors in Kuwait" to fight against "infidel armies" of "London, Washington and the Zionist entity."

Kuwait and other Gulf states have all rejected Saddam's unprecedented apology, which they consider "provocative."

Relations between Kuwait and Baghdad have been severed since Iraq invaded the oil-rich Gulf neighbour in 1990.

At the Arab summit held in the Lebanese capital of Beirut last March, Iraq affirmed its respect for Kuwait's "independence, sovereignty and security" and pledged to avoid "all that could repeat what happened in 1990."

However, the United States has recently intensified its militarybuildup in Kuwait, its close ally, arousing suspicions that the Gulf state will be a key launch pad for a possible US strike against Iraq. The United States has accused Iraq of seeking to development of weapons of mass destruction and threatened to launchmilitary strike on Iraq if Baghdad does not fully cooperate with the current United Nations arms inspection.

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