Ban urges Iraq, Kuwait to seize ‘historic’ chance

BAGHDAD: UN chief Ban Ki-moon held talks in Baghdad yesterday calling for Iraq and Kuwait to seize a “historic opportunity” to fully normalize ties two decades after Saddam Hussein’s invasion of the emirate.
“I believe that a historic opportunity is at hand to fully normalize relations between the two states,” Ban said at a joint news conference with Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki.
“It is time for both countries to put the past behind and usher in a new era of cooperation,” said the secretary general, who also met with Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.
Several outstanding issues between Iraq and Kuwait remain from now slain Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s August 1990 invasion of its neighbor to the south, including recognition of their border.
Baghdad pays five percent of its oil and gas revenue into a special United Nations fund that pays compensation to Kuwait for its seven-month occupation of the emirate.
The UN chief, who flew in from a visit to Kuwait, said in the emirate on Wednesday that he is “committed to normalization and to ensuring Iraq fulfils all of its outstanding international obligations” on Kuwait under UN resolutions.
Ban, who last visited Iraq in March for an Arab summit, said his talks in Baghdad also covered the current political impasse in Baghdad, tensions between it and the Kurdish regional government, as well as the conflict in Syria.
He said Syria’s President Bashar Assad should be “brought to justice” if his regime uses chemical weapons to combat the armed revolt in the country.
“I have expressed my concerns to the Syrian government and I have sent a letter to President Assad two days ago,” Ban said. “In any case, if chemical weapons are used, then whoever it may be will have to be brought to justice.”
The Syrian government, fighting to prevent the capital Damascus from falling to rebel forces, has insisted it would never resort to chemical weapons.
But Washington fears battlefield advances by rebels could prompt Assad to use chemical arms, or that such stocks could become insecure or find their way into the hands of groups hostile to the United States and its allies.
Ban urged the Iraqi government to keep its borders open to Syrian refugees fleeing the conflict.
His visit also coincides with high tensions between Iraq’s federal government and the autonomous Kurdistan region, during which military reinforcements have been sent to disputed areas in the country’s north.
“I also expressed hope that divergences over disputed territories in northern Iraq can be resolved. There is no alternative to peaceful coexistence within a united federal Iraq,” said Ban.
Talks between federal and Kurdish security officials aimed at easing the tensions broke down last week over Baghdad’s refusal to scrap a new federal military command that covers disputed territory, according to the Iraqi Kurds.
The dispute over territory in northern Iraq is the biggest threat to the country’s long-term stability, according to diplomats and officials.