June 14, 2011UN official urges Baghdad to recognize Kuwait-Iraq border
A senior United Nations official yesterday urged the Iraqi government to officially recognize the borders previously agreed and endorsed by a UN resolution.
Calling on the Iraqi government to "forget the past with regard to [Iraq's] relations with Kuwait and benefit from Europe's experience after World War II," Ad Melkert, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, said "the issue of recognizing the border with Kuwait will be a very important step in restoring Iraq to its normal position within the international community.
Melkert asserted that while "many important steps have been taken (by Iraq) recently to end the outstanding issues with Kuwait, with the formation of a bilateral committee which was able to hold its first meeting in March and agreed to hold a second meeting this month," the issue of Iraq's recognition of the border with Kuwait is a vital step and "will be one of the aspects mentioned in the report to the UN Security Council during the current period.
The Iraqi government, said Melkert needs to "take this step since it is very important for members of the Security council to achieve this and will make it easier for them to reintegrate Iraq into the international community." Further to his analogy with Europe in the post-war period, the senior UN official said, "There is no logic in returning to the past; what is logical is that the issues involved in the dispute are resolved.
Melkert pointed out that although his own nation, the Netherlands, as well as other European nations suffered horrendously from the German regime's actions during World War II, after 1945 and the overthrow of the regime the situation changed dramatically, with Germany becoming a friendly and cooperative state. He stressed that it is vital to "stress the possibilities" at the heart of the current Kuwait-Iraq border dispute and to "move the situation forward to diplomacy between Iraq and Kuwait in one generation only.
http://kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=Mjg4NDU4OTU1
Melkert asserted that while "many important steps have been taken (by Iraq) recently to end the outstanding issues with Kuwait, with the formation of a bilateral committee which was able to hold its first meeting in March and agreed to hold a second meeting this month," the issue of Iraq's recognition of the border with Kuwait is a vital step and "will be one of the aspects mentioned in the report to the UN Security Council during the current period.
The Iraqi government, said Melkert needs to "take this step since it is very important for members of the Security council to achieve this and will make it easier for them to reintegrate Iraq into the international community." Further to his analogy with Europe in the post-war period, the senior UN official said, "There is no logic in returning to the past; what is logical is that the issues involved in the dispute are resolved.
Melkert pointed out that although his own nation, the Netherlands, as well as other European nations suffered horrendously from the German regime's actions during World War II, after 1945 and the overthrow of the regime the situation changed dramatically, with Germany becoming a friendly and cooperative state. He stressed that it is vital to "stress the possibilities" at the heart of the current Kuwait-Iraq border dispute and to "move the situation forward to diplomacy between Iraq and Kuwait in one generation only.
http://kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=Mjg4NDU4OTU1
