Iraq criticizes Kuwait's stance at Gulf Summit

Iraq on Monday criticized the final statement issued by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in Kuwait, saying it clearly showed the imprint of Kuwait's hostility to the Iraqi people.

"The reading of the final statement of the Gulf Cooperation Council's summit, from the media point of view, shows a clear fingerprint of the Kuwaiti position," Iraqi radio stated, quoting a statement from an Iraqi Culture and Information Ministry spokesman.

"Comparing this statement with the final statements of the previous GCC summits, particularly those of the summits of 1995 and 1996, the spokesman said that this summit's final statement shows the Kuwaiti regime's hostility to the Iraqi people, as well as its rejection of all good calls for overcoming the past differences and problems and opening the hearts and minds to the spacious horizons of the future," the report continued.

GCC leaders, winding up the summit in Kuwait earlier on Monday, called on Iraq to implement all UN Security Council resolutions imposed since its invasion of Kuwait and expressed concern over the recent escalation of tension between Baghdad and the UN over weapons inspections.

"For several years now, the calls from most of the Arabian Gulf states have been translated into diplomatic positions and practical measures - which have extended the bridges of brotherhood, cordiality, understanding, and cooperation between most of the Arabian Gulf states and Iraq on both the popular and official levels.

These calls were confirmed anew on the eve of the convening of this summit," the Iraqi spokesman was quoted as adding.

The radio said Ministry spokesman "regretted the tense position, which the officials of that regime hastened to hysterically voice during the summit in a disparate attempt to block the growing positive effects of the pan-Arab, brotherly, and reasonable positions that were expressed in statements from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates." "This summit's statement deals with the Iraq-Kuwait issue in a way that has been bypassed by the brothers in the Gulf for several years now as it is unfeasible, and since it spreads hatred, grudges, and the desire to deepen the wounds and prolong the abnormal situation in the region, which has resulted from the comprehensive military and economic aggression against the Iraqi people for over seven years," the statement said.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.