Islamic Summit Urges Iraq to Show Peaceful Attitude Towards KuwaitLeaders of the world's Muslim countries in Doha November 13 urged Iraq to take necessary steps to show peaceful attitude towards neighboring Kuwait.The call came in a draft statement on the relations between Iraq and Kuwait to be issued at the conclusion of the ninth summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Monday evening, one-day earlier than schedule. The statement stressed the importance of respecting Iraqi sovereignty, safety, political independence and territorial integrity. It also called for the UN Security Council to open a comprehensive dialogue with Iraq for an early lifting of the decade-old UN sanctions imposed for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Meanwhile, the statement underscored the importance of respecting Kuwait's safety and territorial integrity. The summit charged Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al- Thani, who assumed the rotating OIC chairmanship at the summit, to help through his good offices create suitable ground for solving the Iraqi-Kuwaiti disputes in the light of the relevant UN resolutions and the OIC principles. The statement called on OIC Secretary General Ezzidine Laraki to follow up the implementation of the summit resolutions, and then report to the 28th session of the OIC foreign ministerial meeting. The statement also urged Iraq to fulfill its commitments under the UN Security Council resolutions. Furthermore, it called on Iraq and Kuwait to resolve their long-standing issue of prisoners of war (POWs) in coordination with the International Committee of Red Cross. The next Islamic summit will be staged in Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur in 2003. |
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