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Kuwait Ready for Conditional Talks With Iraq
Kuwait is ready to open talks with Iraq in return for the release of some of the 600 people still being held in Iraqi prisons, said the Kuwaiti defense minister Tuesday.
Sheikh Salem Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah said he has no objections to holding talks with the Iraqis on condition that they release 10 percent of the prisoners of war (POWs) and Kuwaiti hostages and other third country nationals who number at more than 600 to resolve this long-standing "humanitarian issue."
The announcement, carried by the official Kuwait News Agency, came almost 10 years after Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990 and occupied it for seven months. The occupation touched off the 1991 Gulf war, during which the U.S.-led allies drove Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
Sheikh Salem, also the country's deputy prime minister, heads a state body in charge of seeking the release of Kuwaiti POWs.
Kuwait and Iraq are locked in a dispute over the issue of POWs. Kuwait insists Iraq is still holding over 600 Kuwaiti and third country nationals since the 1991 Gulf war. But Baghdad denied the Kuwaiti claim.
A thaw in relations between the two Arab foes can only come after a breakthrough over the POWs issue, analysts said.
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