Kuwait Receives Tons of National Archives From Iraq

Gulf

March 29th, 5:03am

Asharq Al-Awsat

Employee at the Kuwaiti Information Ministry Essam al-Said inspects boxes in the back of a truck containing Kuwaiti archives seized during the Iraqi invasion of the Gulf emirate in 1990. (AFP)

Kuwait received on Sunday 8 tons of documents and other items taken during the 1990 Iraq invasion led by Saddam Hussein, officials said. It is the third shipment that Kuwait has received since 2019, according to officials from both countries. Kuwait’s Assistant Foreign Minister Nasser Al-Hain welcomed the move, saying the shipment contained archives from Kuwait University, the Information Ministry and other institutions. “We look forward to more cooperation and, God willing, there will soon be additional steps to complete the handover,” he said during a ceremony marking the occasion in Kuwait City. Qahtan Al-Janabi, from Iraq’s Foreign Ministry, said that his country had previously received a list of missing items from Kuwait and “based on that, the handover is taking place.” Iraqi forces, under ex-ruler Saddam Hussein, invaded Kuwait in 1990, sparking international condemnation, and occupying the Gulf state for seven months before they were pushed out by a US-led international coalition. Baghdad has paid around $50 billion in the last three decades in reparations, but faced with its worst fiscal crisis in years amid the coronavirus pandemic and plummeting oil prices, it has asked for an extension for the final $3.8 billion.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2887626/kuwait-receives-tons-national-archives-iraq