Iraq has softened its line towards Kuwait, declaring for the first time in a formal document to an Arab summit that it recognizes the right to security and independence of the neighbor it occupied in 1990, Arab officials said in Beirut.
The new stance is in contrast to last year's Amman summit. President Saddam Hussein's regime then blocked any attempt to work out a resolution on Iraqi-Kuwait ties. Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri even told AFP Baghdad did not want to get involved, considering that this year's summit in the Lebanese capital should concentrate on supporting the Palestinian cause.
He said that only when it learned that the Kuwaitis had asked for their continued grievances to be put on the summit agenda that Iraq had countered with a document of its own.
The Iraqi document was conciliatory, the official said, expressing "respect for the security and independence of Kuwait and stressing that the priority for Arab states was to "concentrate on the essential questions", namely the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and "threats against Arab countries."
Meanwhile, a second meeting between UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri has been scheduled for April 18-19, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said Monday.
Eckhard declined to give any further details on the meeting which is due to take place at the UN headquarters in New York against a background of US military threats.
Sabri and Annan last held talks March 7 on the possible return of UN arms inspectors to Iraq and had agreed at the time to meet again in mid-April. (Albawaba.com)
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