Kuwait reluctant for new start with Iraq, 12 years after invasion

Following 12 years from the date of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, relations between the two states are are still tense, despite the initiatives proposed by Baghdad to mend relations and close the file of the past.

During the recent Beirut Arab summit held by the end of March this year, the two states agreed to reconcile their relations. For the first time, and in a written document, Baghdad vowed to "honor Kuwait's independence, sovereignty and security." An Iraqi official said that Iraq had offered much before the convening of the Beirut summit and recognized Kuwait as an independent state and accepted the new map of the border between the two countries, and now the Kuwaitis are required to take steps to this direction."

In May this year, Iraq vowed at the Arab League to return back to Kuwait, through the UN military observation mission, national scripts and official documents confiscated during the invasion in 1990. On July 16, the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein stressed in a statement to Gulf newspapers that his country "wants to open a new page in our inter- Arab relations." Also after Beirut's summit, the Iraqi official dailies stopped criticizing the Kuwaiti officials.

Iraqi officials also renewed Iraq's readiness to normalize relations at all levels. They said "the other side ( Kuwait) has to match the Iraqi positive steps by confirming good intentions." However, Kuwait which celebrates tomorrow, Friday August the 2nd, the 12th anniversary of the invasion, has repeatedly stressed it will not open a "new page" in its relations with Iraq unless Baghdad releases its prisoners and missing it claims Iraq has held since the Gulf war in 1991.

Further, Kuwait prepares itself for a second Iraqi invasion, or to possible revenge strikes from Baghdad, in case an American attack will take place against Baghdad. To this effect, the Kuwaiti government announced it had drawn an emergency plan to such a possibility, while a higher emergency committee discussed the security measures should be taken to this end.