Abdul Meguid refuses Iraqi accusations

Arab League Secretary General Esmat Abdul Meguid said that the last declarations issued by Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz asserting that Kuwait is a state inside the Iraqi borders are declarations that completely contradict Iraq's approval of United Nations resolutions concerning this matter.

He added that this does not help create an atmosphere in which an understanding could be reached for a strong Arab stance.

Abdul Meguid added that Kuwait notified the Arab League yesterday with an official note that comprises the Kuwaiti reply to an Iraqi official statement issued recently by Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahaf to the Arab League in which he says that Kuwait helped US and British forces in the recent attacks on Iraq.

The Iraqi recent statements will have an "adverse impact" on the meeting that Arab foreign ministers are expected to hold on January 24 at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, MAP quoted Abdul Meguid as saying. Initially scheduled for last December, the meeting was postponed to January 24 upon the request of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Iraqi Athawra daily quoted Iraqi vice-prime minister, Tareq Aziz as saying that Kuwait has been "a part of Iraq" since the dawn of time.

"We would have liked that such statements be avoided in this very moment," Abdul Meguid said.

Iraqi MPs called recently for withdrawing Iraq's recognition of Kuwait, which they argued was illegally severed from Iraq by the British colonizers.