Kuwait Urges Iraq to Implement UN ResolutionsKuwait urged Iraq on November 19 to implement all United Nations resolutions related to its invasion and occupation of Kuwait in 1990-1991 as a way to get UN sanctions lifted.In an interview with the state-owned Kuwait Television and Kuwait News Agency, First Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al- Ahmad Al-Sabah said the way-out for Iraq to have the economic sanctions lifted is the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions. The Council imposed trade embargo on Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait in 1990. On opening up channels for dialog between Iraq and the United Nations, Sheikh Sabah, also the foreign minister, said there is a difference between lifting UN sanctions and holding dialog between them. Iraq and the UN have agreed to start a dialog after nearly two years of deadlock in their relations. During a meeting between UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Vice Chairman of Iraq's ruling Revolutionary Command Council Ezzat Ibrahim, held on the sidelines of the ninth Islamic summit in Qatar on November 12-14, both sides agreed to "engage in a comprehensive dialog without any preconditions." The final communique of the Islamic summit also called on the Security Council to launch a comprehensive dialog with Iraq and asked Baghdad to implement all UN resolutions. In his speech at the summit, Annan urged Baghdad "to review its position with a view of cooperating with the international community." "I believe that Iraqi leadership will achieve more through cooperation with international community, including its neighbors, than through confrontation," Annan said. |
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