Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki rebuked neighboring states yesterday for not doing enough to strengthen ties with Baghdad, write off Iraq’s debts or stop militants entering the war-torn country.
Maliki, speaking at a meeting in Kuwait of foreign ministers from the region and Western powers, did not name any countries, but his remarks appeared aimed at Sunni Arab states that have only low-level ties with his Shiite-led government.
He said Iraq was now a vastly different country from that under former president Saddam Hussein, who ruled with an iron fist for decades until his ouster in 2003 by US-led forces.
“Iraq today is different from the previous Iraq which assaulted its neighbors. Iraq ... is ready to play a constructive role in security and stability in the region,” Maliki said at the start of the meeting.
He rattled off a list of grievances Iraq had with neighboring states.
“It’s difficult for us to explain why diplomatic ties have not been resumed with Iraq. Many other foreign countries have kept diplomatic missions in Baghdad regardless of security considerations,” Maliki said.
No ambassador from a Sunni Arab nation has been stationed permanently in Baghdad since Egypt’s envoy was kidnapped and killed shortly after arriving in 2005. By comparison, Iraq has growing ties with non-Arab Iran.
Promises have been made by Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to open up embassies in Baghdad and the US hope is that if Riyadh announces firm plans and dates then others will follow.
The Kuwait meeting is a follow-on from gatherings of Iraq’s neighbors as well as permanent members of the UN Security Council that were held in Turkey and Egypt last year.
Maliki said Iraq had made great strides since then.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is at the meeting, has said she would push hard for Arab neighbors to “meet their obligations” and step up financial and diplomatic support that has not been forthcoming since 2003.
About US$66.5 billion of Iraq’s foreign debt has been forgiven, according to US State Department estimates. Of the estimated US$56 billion to US$80 billion debt that remains, more than half is owed to Gulf countries, the department said.
Maliki said Iraq was still waiting for relief of the remaining debt as well as a reduction in compensation it owes because of Saddam’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
“The canceling of debts and the suspension of compensation that Iraq pays would present a positive message to Iraq’s people that there is a real wish to help them overcome crises and speed up reconstruction,” Maliki said.
Maliki also urged neighboring countries to make more effort to prevent militants crossing into Iraq.
Iraq’s recent attempts to crush Shiite militias will also be a central topic at the meeting and Maliki is expected to urge Arab countries to back those efforts.
Rice has said she has no plans to meet in Kuwait with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. She accuses Iran of contradicting its stated aim of stabilizing Iraq by arming the militias.
During a photo opportunity at the opening of the conference, Rice stood between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Maliki, positioning herself four places to the left of Mottaki.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to