Iraq to finish Kuwait war reparations ‘in 2015’

Iraqi Foreign Affairs Minister Hoshyar Zebari speaks during a press conference in Baghdad yesterday.

Iraq estimates that it will complete reparations payments to neighbouring Kuwait in 2015 for Saddam Hussain’s 1990 invasion, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said yesterday. Kuwait has so far received around $30bn in war reparations, out of about $41bn. Baghdad currently pays 5% of its oil and gas revenue into a special UN fund that pays the compensation. “If we continue at this pace, I think that in 2015, after paying all the war compensation, Iraq will be completely removed from Chapter 7,” Zebari said at a news conference in Baghdad. He was referring to a section of the UN charter which allows for sanctions ranging from economic measures to an arms embargo.