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Gulf states condemn Iraqi statements over Kuwait

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January 19, 2001 

DUBAI-- (AP) - The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain condemned Iraq on Thursday for a call for Kuwait to be included in the map of Iraq.

"Such wrangles and provocative statements do not contribute to confidence building for brotherly Iraq's return to the Arab nation and the international community," said the Emirates' Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sheik Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Sheik Hamdan told the Emirates' official news agency WAM that his country "considers a threat against any member of the Gulf Cooperation Council as a direct threat against it."

Kuwait, along with the Emirates and Bahrain, is a member of the GCC, a loose economic and political alliance. The other members are Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Odai Hussein, son of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and a member of parliament, told the Iraqi legislature Tuesday that Kuwait should be included in a new map of Iraq. The proposal came on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the Gulf War which liberated Kuwait from a seven-month Iraqi occupation.

When asked about Odai's statement on Wednesday, Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan told reporters in Cairo: "So what? Ninety-nine percent of Iraqis support this."

But before leaving Thursday, Ramadan told reporters that Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council had already recognized Kuwait and its U.N.-drawn borders in 1994 and that Saddam had pledged the integrity of Kuwait's territories.

"Everyone has the right to express his opinion and we will not silence him, yet we are committed to what we had signed in 1994," Ramadan said.

Ramadan also repeated Iraq's denial that it holds no Kuwaiti prisoners.

In Manama, an official at the Bahraini Foreign Ministry said the remarks were a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, which uphold the territorial integrity of Kuwait, the official Gulf News Agency reported.

"Bahrain regrets such statements at a time when Arab and international efforts are being exerted to lift the sanctions on Iraq and end the suffering of the Iraqi people," the agency quoted the unidentified official as saying. U.N. trade sanctions have been enforced against Iraq since its invasion of Kuwait. They have devastated its economy and caused widespread shortages and malnutrition among children.

In Kuwait, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Suleiman Majed al-Shaheen said Wednesday his country considered the statements as serious threats, the Kuwait News Agency reported.

Al-Shaheen discussed the statements Wednesday with the ambassadors of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, KUNA said.

Arab League Secretary-General Esmat Abdel-Maguid, in a statement faxed to The Associated Press in Cairo, Egypt, said the Iraqi statements "hinder the current efforts to achieve Arab national reconciliation, regain solidarity and provide all means of success to the next Arab summit."

Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990 and annexed it as Iraq's 19th province. A U.S.-led coalition of forces drove Iraqi troops out in February 1991.