Jordanian Minister of Commerce and Industry Wassef Azar said Wednesday that King Abdullah had lately been trying to resolve the Kuwait-Iraqi conflict through several channels.
In an interview with Al Rafidain Iraqi newspaper, the minister, who was in Baghdad for trade talks last week, said that the monarch had pledged to continue his efforts to settle the crisis, a mission he accepted as the president of the Arab summit in Amman last March.
However, the minister said that the issues involved in the crisis remained thorny despite the Iraqi latest stand calling for negotiations.
The paper quoted the minister as saying that many parties had been pressing Jordan not to return six Iraqi airplanes parked in Amman since the Gulf War, but he insisted that the kingdom, which stood by Iraq during the crisis, would not yield to such pressures.
However, said the minister, there are two things to be done before Jordan can send the planes back to Baghdad. The first is to carry out the necessary maintenance, and second is to get the approval of the United Nations.
He said that Jordan and Iraq had reached a common understanding concerning this issue. He said that Jordan had already sent back Iraqi ships moored in the Gulf of Aqaba “due to the environmental hazards brought about the keeping them there.” – Albawaba.com
