Sabah al-Ahmad invites Jordanian FM to visit Kuwait and end problems

Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah said on Sunday that he extended an invitation for his Jordanian counterpart, Abdul Illah al-Khatib, to visit Kuwait and "eliminate all problems" between them.

In statements he made to reporters, the Kuwaiti FM criticized attacks made by certain Kuwaiti dailies against "presidents of certain Arab states." He added that he apologizes to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh over the insults made against him recently by one journalist in a Kuwaiti daily.

He said, talking to journalists "It is regrettable that as journalists you attack heads of states, and the law prevents that," adding, "on your behalf as journalists I apologize for the Yemeni president because we do not accept a president of a state to be insulted in our local press."

Sheikh Sabah's statements, the strongest towards reconciliation with the states which stood against Kuwait and sided with Iraq during its invasion of Kuwait in 1990, followed a special meeting he held with the foreign relations committee at the Kuwaiti Ummah council (parliament). Discussions dealt with several issues including the positions of the Arab states towards the Iraqi government following the recent military strikes against Iraq.

Sheikh al-Sabah praised the speech made by Jordan's Crown Prince Hassan to the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union who met in Amman.

Replying to a question on reopening the Jordanian embassy in Kuwait, al-Sabah said, "When he (the Jordanian Foreign minister) arrives in Kuwaiti everything will be settled."