How long will the sanctions last?

The loot is monumental, say the Kuwaitis, who accuse Iraq of stripping the country's military arsenal of some of the world's most sophisticated weapons purchased with oil money.

The weapons including eight F-1 Mirage fighter planes, 245 armoured personnel carriers, 3,750 anti-tank missiles and six battle tanks were apparently carted away by the Iraqis when they invaded Kuwait in August 1990. 

The Kuwaitis have now given an ultimatum to Iraq: either return all of the stolen property or there will be no end to UN sanctions.

Although Iraq has returned "a substantial quantity of Kuwaiti property" over a nine-year period, the UN admits that there are many items still in Iraqi possession and "which Iraq is under obligation to return to Kuwait."

But in a letter to the UN, Iraq says it "has returned all the Kuwaiti property in its possession, having nothing else whatever to return."

The Kuwaitis, however, are challenging this declaration arguing that Iraq remains in violation of Security Council resolutions until it returns all property seized from Kuwait during the 1990 invasion.

The UN is caught in the middle of the dispute as the two Arab neighbours fire at each other.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan says it may never be possible to determine with 100 percent certainty that all items have been returned, and "thus allowing for a determination that the return has been completed." 

However, until Iraq provides "a credible explanation" with regard to the missing property, especially archives, military materiel and museum items, the closure of the property issue will be delayed, he adds. 

In a letter to the UN, the Kuwaitis say that among the items still missing are files containing tens of thousands of communications, including confidential documents and bilateral agreements concluded between Kuwait and other foreign governments. These documents were stolen from special rooms where they were kept in storage.

The letter also says that, during the occupation of Kuwait, the archives had been loaded into Iraqi army trucks and transported to Baghdad.

The stolen weapons are mostly those supplied by the United States, France and the former Soviet Union, three major arms suppliers to Kuwait.

In late 1992, the Iraqis began returning some of the military equipment that were looted from the Kuwaiti arsenal. But there was a catch: Kuwait says the Iraqis returned weapons that were militarily ineffective. The helicopters apparently were returned without their navigation equipment and tanks without firing controls. 

The post-war reconstruction of Kuwait, including the rebuilding of its armed forces, cost more than $40 billion, according to official Kuwaiti estimates.

Following the Gulf War, Kuwait went on a shopping spree buying over $7.2 billion worth of arms, mostly from the US. But Kuwait also purchased large quantities of weapons from the other four veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, namely Britain, France, China and Russia. 

According to the Washington-based Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA), Kuwait purchased about $6.4 billion in arms during 1993-1997. The bulk of these weapons came from the US, Britain and Russia. 

The UN sanctions imposed on Iraq 10 years ago will remain until the Security Council declares that the Iraqis have complied with provisions of all UN resolutions, including the return of Kuwaiti property and the destruction of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons in Iraq.

Editorial/ Opinion Contents