IRAQ-U.N.: Iraq’s Recognition of Kuwait Still Won’t End Embargo

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 10 1994 (IPS) - If the Iraqi government had hoped its recognition of Kuwait would quicken the lifting of U.N.- imposed sanctions, the tone in the U.N. Security Council Thursday should quickly chasten those expectations.

Diplomats from Britain and the United States — the two key opponents to any lifting of the embargo — noted the Iraqi Parliament’s decision to recognise Kuwait and its present borders, but denied any impact on the sanctions.

U.S. spokesman James Rubin hailed the vote as “an important achievement,” but he quickly added, “Even if these steps (to recognise Kuwait) are taken, Iraq will only be complying with one of a number of requirements of the Security Council.”

He argued that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s “blatant provocation against Kuwait and the United Nations last month demonstrated his untrustworthiness and his readiness to resort to threats and confrontations to achieve his objectives.”

As a result of those “provocations”, in which some 70,000 Iraqi troops moved near the nation’s border with Kuwait only to withdraw under U.S. threats within days, Washington would continue to keep the pressure on Baghdad, Rubin said.

That effort means that sanctions will not change until Iraq has demonstrated its peaceful intentions, the spokesman added — an effort which in the past Washington has linked to a variety of political and human rights concerns.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Christine Shelley said, “The international community will not be satisfied with partial steps” and advised Baghdad to comply better with providing information on its weaponry programmes to U.N. monitors.

Another U.S. official, who asked not to be named, said Baghdad also would have to take better regard of the human rights of its Shi’ite and Kurd populations and account for Kuwaiti prisoners and equipment still missing since the 1991 Gulf War.

Similarly, a British diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, called Baghdad’s Thursday vote “a necessary but not sufficient condition for lifting sanctions.”

He argued that the border incidents last month need to be factored into any Council judgment of Iraqi intentions just as strongly as any move toward peace with Kuwait.