KUWAIT CITY - Kuwait has received 11.2 billion dollars in war reparations from Iraq for BaghdadÂ’s 1990-1991 invasion and occupation of the emirate, an official report said Saturday. The report by KuwaitÂ’s compensation authority, published in Al Qabas daily, said the UN Compensation Commission had so far approved 41.3 billion dollars in war reparations for Kuwait.The emirate has filed compensation claims worth 178 billion dollars to the UNCC, set up by the UN Security Council after Saddam HusseinÂ’s forces occupied Kuwait in 1990 before being ousted seven months later by a US-led coalition. A majority of the claims were filed for damages in the oil sector, the lifeline of the Gulf state, and the environment, the report said.
Kuwaiti lawmakers have warned their government against giving in to “external pressures” to forgive part of the unpaid compensation, with some threatening to hold the government accountable. The emirate, however, agreed in 2004 to an American request to substantially cut the estimated 16-billion-dollar debt owed to it by Iraq.