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Two decades on, Kuwait seeks better Iraq ties

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 15, AFP A landmark visit to Baghdad last week by Kuwait's prime minister is seen by many Kuwaitis as a good sign of improving relations, 20 years after Iraq's invasion of its tiny, oil-rich neighbour. "The visit of Sheikh Nasser (Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah) to Iraq was indeed historical," the liberal Al-Jarida newspaper said in a front-page editorial on Friday.

"Twenty years after Operation Desert Storm was launched to liberate Kuwait... he proves that the real storm that should blow over the two neighbouring nations is that of cooperation and mutual respect," the daily said.

Wednesday's visit to Iraq was the first by a Kuwaiti premier since 1989, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the Gulf War. Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990. On January 17, 1991, a US-led multi-national coalition force launched Operation Desert Storm, a 40-day war that pounded Saddam's forces out of the wealthy emirate. Mahmud Ali still remembers the devastation of the seven months of Iraqi occupation and the killing of around 2,000 civilians.

"The memories of destruction caused by Saddam Hussein's troops on our small country have not completely disappeared," Ali, a private sector employee in his 40s, told AFP at a local mall. But 20 years later, he says life must go on.

"That was done by Saddam and he is gone, so it's better for both of our nations to establish strong ties and cooperate," said Ali, echoing a common Kuwaiti sentiment. Saddam was toppled by the 2003 US-led invasion, and later tried and executed. Before leaving Kuwait, Iraqi forces torched more than 700 oil wells, took several thousand Kuwaiti and other civilians prisoner and looted the wealthy emirate.

Most of the prisoners were freed after the war, but just over 600 are still missing and believed dead. The remains of about half have been found, and the search is still on for the rest."What happened to Kuwait on August.

 

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