Saad Al-Shammary, Arab News Staff

KUWAIT CITY, 23 February 2004 — Kuwait is shocked by new territorial claims from Iraq and has demanded clarification from the interim Governing Council over statements attributed to its current president.

“The State of Kuwait followed up the statement with concern and amazement. We are awaiting clarification from the interim Governing Council of brotherly Iraq about the truth of the statement and its aim,” the state-run KUNA news agency quoted an official source as saying.

It was Kuwait’s first official reaction to the council’s president, who said Saturday that Baghdad could consider territorial claims over neighboring Jordan and Kuwait in the future.

“We need our Arab brothers around us. Now we cannot discuss this matter with them at all, but in the future, we’ll see,” said Mohsen Abdul Hamid, in response to a question from a Baghdad consultative council member.

Shaza Hadi Al-Obeidi had asked Abdul Hamid about the status of territory once linked to Iraq, such as Jordan and Kuwait, at an extraordinary meeting of the 37-member consultative council.

“This is an irresponsible statement... It appears that the current chairman wants to become a copy of Saddam Hussein,” outspoken Kuwaiti lawmaker Mussallam Al-Barrak said.

The Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait moved quickly to contain the crisis following the statement of Abdul Hamid, who is chairman of the organization’s branch in Iraq. “We have contacted the IGC president’s office in Kuwait and confirmed that the statement attributed to him was incorrect,” said Dr. Muhammad Al-Baseeri, a Kuwaiti MP and spokesman of the organization.

Al-Baseeri said Abdul Hamid would soon issue a statement denying the report. The IGC president will also visit Kuwait next week as part of a Gulf tour and clarify the matter directly while meeting with Kuwaiti leaders.

Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, invaded Kuwait in August 1990 and annexed the emirate before his troops were chased out seven months later in the US-led 1991 Gulf War. Baghdad has for decades laid claim to Kuwait as an integral part of Iraq, arguing the emirate was artificially separated by the British colonizers.

“I believe that Iraq is the last country on earth that should be willing to reopen old files with its neighbors. It now urgently needs to focus on reconstruction,” Kuwaiti political analyst and writer Sami Al-Nesef said.

“Statements like these do not serve the interests of anyone... They are harmful to the development efforts in Iraq... The country needs to strengthen its ties with the neighbors,” Al-Nesef said.

Kuwait is preparing to mark its 13th anniversary of liberation from Iraqi occupation on Feb. 26, and the 43rd anniversary of independence from British rule on Feb. 25. Last September, the then chairman of the Governing Council, Ahmad Chalabi, said Iraq fully recognizes the UN-demarcated international border with Kuwait and seeks good ties with its tiny southern neighbor.

“Iraq clearly recognizes the international borders which were drawn up under UN Security Council Resolution 833,” said Chalabi, who is president of the Iraqi National Congress (INC). Under Resolution 833 passed in 1993, the Security Council set the 200-km-long land border as well as the maritime border between the two countries.

The INC came under fire in Kuwait last month after its vice president, Mudhar Shawkat, said that the Kuwaiti Gulf islands of Bubiyan and Warba were essential for Iraq’s economic development, urging the emirate to lease them. Saddam asked to lease the islands at the start of his country’s 1980-1988 war with Iran. Although Kuwait backed Iraq in that conflict, it turned down the request.

— Additional input from agencies