Kuwait supports Powell Iraq sanctions plan

Kuwait said yesterday it had held positive talks on modifying UN sanctions on Iraq with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who also stressed full commitment to Kuwait's security. The weekly cabinet meeting, voicing Kuwait's support for the plan, said in a statement that deputy prime minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah had held a "positive meeting" with Powell, who also discussed Middle East peace efforts before leaving on Monday after a two-day visit.

It said Powell, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff during the 1991 U.S.-led Gulf War against Iraq, stressed during the talks the "United States' commitment to safeguard the security and sovereignty of the State of Kuwait". Powell toured the region to rebuild consensus around a modified package of UN sanctions against Iraq in time for an Arab summit in Jordan on March 27.

The sanctions have been in place since Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 and occupied it until February 26, 1991 when it was defeated by a coalition of some 30 countries. Powell attended several ceremonies in Kuwait to mark the 10th liberation anniversary. Powell said Washington was still working on the specifics of the sanctions package which the Kuwait government statement said would "avert harming the Iraqi people and prevent the Iraqi regime from inhumane abuse of these sanctions...".

It said the plan aimed to prevent Iraq from developing weapons of mass destruction and threatening neighbours and regional stability without allowing Baghdad to continue to use the sanctions "to increase the suffering of the Iraqi people to achieve political gains". Like the United States, Kuwait blames Iraqi President Saddam Hussein for the suffering of Iraqis under the crippling sanctions by failing to meet United Nations resolutions relating to Baghdad's invasion.

A senior U.S. official had said that the idea was to ease restrictions on Iraqi imports of civilian goods while tightening those on military equipment. A growing number of Arab states, including some which fought with the coalition forces against Iraq, are now demanding an easing or lifting of the sanctions. Powell, speaking to reporters on his plane to Brussels from Damascus at the end of a three-day Middle East tour, said the idea was to get Arab states and permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to agree on the U.S. package.

Diplomats said some states planned to raise the sanctions issue at the Arab summit in Amman to try to reach a consensus against them after the last Arab gathering in Cairo concentrated only on the Palestinian issue and dealing with Israel. But others would try to keep the focus on the Palestinian uprising and how to deal with Israel's hawkish prime minister-elect Ariel Sharon to avoid a rift over the Iraqi question which is still the cause of inter-Arab differences.