Thursday, May 29, 2008

Iraq prime minister calls for debt relief at UN conference

UPPLANDS VASBY, Sweden (AP) - Iraq's prime minister called Thursday for neighboring countries to forgive debts and war reparations that he said hindered his nation's recovery despite a reduction in violence.

Opening a U.N. conference on Iraq, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said his government had kept the country from descending into the "abyss of civil war" but needs to shed the burden of reparations and debt in order to move forward with reconstruction and development.

"Iraq has achieved major success in the battle against terrorism with the support of the international community," al-Maliki said in Arabic.

Iraq has at least $67 billion in foreign debt - most incurred during the rule of Saddam Hussein and owed to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

In addition, the Geneva-based U.N. Compensation Commission says $28 billion remains to be paid in compensation for Saddam's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Iraq gives 5 percent of its oil revenue to meet the compensation claims.

The country is expected to reap tens of billions of dollars in oil revenue this year because of worldwide record-high fuel prices. Oil brought in $16 billion in the first quarter of the year and $5.9 billion last month alone.

But the Iraqi government maintains it should not be obligated to repay debts incurred by Saddam's dictatorship, which denied basic rights to its own citizens, including any say over government policy.

The conference outside Stockholm is the first annual review of the International Compact with Iraq, a sweeping five-year economic and political reform package that Ban helped broker last May in Egypt.

The compact defined international help for Iraq - including debt relief - but also set tough commitments on the Baghdad government, particularly carrying out reforms aimed at giving Sunni Arabs a greater role in the political process.

Iraq's Sunni Arab minority has long felt it is being sidelined by the majority Shiites and Kurds and the largest Sunni Arab political bloc pulled out of the 39-member Cabinet in August. On Wednesday it suspended talks about returning.

Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia announced last year it would forgive Iraq's debt but so far has failed to implement that decision. Sunni-led Kuwait still insists that Iraq pay compensation for damages from the invasion.

Both nations sent midlevel officials to the conference rather than ministers.

More than 500 delegates from dozens of countries and international organizations were attending, including Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The U.S. military says violence in Iraq is at its lowest level in more than four years, following a series of crackdowns on Sunni and Shiite extremists. But some U.S. politicians have balked at giving more money to Iraq because of the amount of money it is raising from oil revenues.

"The Iraqis don't need large sums of money," Rice told reporters ahead of the conference. "They do need large infusions of technical assistance (and) project support."

Mottaki said the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq was responsible for the "grave" situation, while his country and other neighbors have played a "prominent role" in reconstruction.

"Due to the mistaken policies pursued by the occupiers in Iraq, the situation of security in Iraq is now so grave that it has cast its shadow on life in this country," Mottaki told delegates.

Live TV footage of the conference showed U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice rolling her eyes and smirking as Mottaki was speaking. The U.S. government has repeatedly accused Iran of arming militants for attacks on Americans in Iraq, a charge Iran denies.

Rice urged Iraq's Arab neighbors to support it through official visits and by opening embassies in Baghdad.

"I would hope that the international community would accelerate its efforts to help make Iraq a capable state," she said.

Kuwait last month said it was looking to buy a building for an embassy in Baghdad's U.S.-guarded Green Zone. It would be the first Kuwaiti Embassy in Iraq since the 1990 invasion.

MyWay

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home