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Hurdles block Iraq's regional
integration
By Sergei Danilochkin
PRAGUE - Iraq has been trying to normalize ties
with its neighbors since the fall of Saddam Hussein's
regime in April. But one of the major problems to
mending ties broken by years of war and international
isolation is the transitional nature of Iraq's current
government.
Ambassador David Mack is the vice
president of the Middle East Institute in Washington and
has many years of experience in the region. He says the
first priority for Iraq to mending ties is to establish
a legitimate government.
"At this point Iraq has
no established government system. The members of the
Iraqi Governing Council are working quite hard to try to
come up with a framework for developing a constitution
and moving toward full legitimacy vis-a-vis the Iraqi
people and their neighbors. The political situation in
Iraq remains in a state of evolution. At this point, it
would be very, very difficult to predict exactly what
the future Iraqi government's orientation will be on key
foreign policy issues, such as the relationships with
its various neighbors," Mack said.
Foreign
ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council
(GCC) met on December 21 to discuss a wide range of
issues, including Iraq's recent request to join the
group. The group expelled Iraq from a number of its
sports, educational and social councils after the
invasion and occupation of Kuwait in August 1990.
GCC secretary general Abdulrahman al-Attiya was
quoted as saying that it was too early to discuss full
membership for Iraq. The group links Kuwait, Saudi
Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and
Bahrain.
Bilateral relations with Kuwait are
seen as especially crucial. Ties were severed after the
first Gulf War when Saddam's forces invaded and tried to
annex the emirate. Now, with Hussein gone, Kuwaiti
authorities have demonstrated a willingness to improve
ties.
"Senior Kuwaiti government officials have
made it clear that they welcome the political
developments in Baghdad and want to establish a proper
relationship with a new government. And they've also
been providing humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi
people, in addition to the support they give to
coalition forces in conducting operations in the
country," Mack said.
Normalizing ties will not
be easy. Some 600 Kuwaitis are still missing since the
1990 invasion. In addition, there is the matter of
thousands of millions of dollars in war reparations
claims filed by individuals, groups, companies and the
government of Kuwait.
The United Nations said on
December 16 that prospects for finding the missing
Kuwaitis were dim. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was
quoted as saying a "grim truth is unveiling itself". He
pointed to mass graves that have been uncovered in Iraq
with Kuwaiti remains. Abdul Hameed al-Attar is a member
of Kuwaiti national committee for missing and prisoners
of war. He says most of the affected families had
already lost hope of finding their relatives alive. He
said, however, they will continue to press for
compensation.
"The Kuwaiti government [and] the
families of the POWs are really willing to raise claims
for compensation through the United Nations and to ask
the Iraqi government to pay this compensation sooner or
later. So, this is something. The government of Kuwait
cannot give any concessions to the Iraqis regarding
these claims. This is a very, very major issue that
should be solved between Kuwait and the Iraqi
government," al-Attar said.
Kuwait has already
been awarded millions of dollars of compensation for
damages and losses caused by the invasion. A special UN
body is already processing claims amounting to some
US$350 billion. But more claims are likely as the
preparations for Saddam's trial begin. Kuwait is
preparing a list of alleged crimes and says it wants to
take part in any trial against Saddam.
Iran,
too, says it is preparing a criminal complaint against
Saddam over the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. Reports today
said the country could file reparations claims of as
much as $100 billion.
Israel, which came under
Iraqi missile attack in the 1991 Gulf War, might also
file claims. It's unclear as yet how these problems will
be sorted out and who - if anyone - will pay the
reparations.
Mack, for his part, believes it
will take time, patience, and effort to resolve the
conflicts. "With regard to the missing Kuwaitis who were
either killed or taken as prisoners of war by the Saddam
Hussein regime in 1990-1991, I believe that the new
Iraqi government will to the best of its ability try to
satisfy the Kuwaiti government in that regard with all
the information that it can possibly provide about those
unfortunate events. In regard to the reparations, I
think this issue remains uncertain. It's one of the
things that former [US] secretary of state [James]
Baker, I am sure, will be discussing with the Kuwaitis
quite soon, because it is to a certain extent similar to
the [Iraqi] debt question that secretary Baker has in
his portfolio for the discussion," Mack said.
Copyright (c) 2002, RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted
with the permission of Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut
Ave NW, Washington DC 20036
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