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Iraq to resume oil reparations for Gulf War: UN

Lewis Sanders IV
November 21, 2017

The UN Security Council's compensation agency has announced Baghdad's desire to settle war reparations by 2021. Iraq had suspended compensation payments following the rise of the "Islamic State" militant group.

https://p.dw.com/p/2o197
US aircraft fly over burning oilfields set alight by Iraqi troops retreating from Kuwait
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/CPA Media/Pictures From History

The UN Compensation Commission (UNCC) said on Tuesday that Iraq is set to resume compensation payments relating to the country's "unlawful invasion and occupation" of Kuwait from 1990 to 1991.

"The (UNCC's) governing council welcomed receipt of a proposal for deposits to resume into the compensation fund in 2018 put forward by the government of Iraq and accepted by the government of Kuwait," the Commission said in a statement.

Read more: Saddam Hussein, the Gulf War and the new Middle East

Under Iraq's latest proposal, Baghdad will provide 0.5 percent of its oil proceeds in 2018 to the compensation fund, with the percentage increasing gradually until the end of 2021.

"Based on oil price and export projections, this would result in payment in full of the outstanding claim award," the Commission added.

The US, backed by the UK, France and Saudi Arabia, launched operation Desert Storm to reclaim territory seized by Kuwait during the First Gulf War
The US, backed by the UK, France and Saudi Arabia, launched operation Desert Storm to reclaim territory seized by Kuwait during the First Gulf WarImage: picture-alliance/AP Photo/J. Maps

War reparations

The UNCC was established in 1991 as a subsidiary organ of the UN Security Council to "process claims and pay compensation for losses and damages suffered as a direct result of Iraq's unlawful invasion and occupation of Kuwait in 1990-91."

In 2005, the Commission finished processing 2.7 million claims amounting to $352.5 billion (300 billion euros). It awarded compensation amounting to $52.4 billion to 1.5 million successful claimants.

Read more: Iraqi memories of Desert Storm

Baghdad had to temporarily halt payments in October 2014 due to "difficult security circumstances" associated with the rise of the "Islamic State" militant group earlier that year. Iraq is expected to pay Kuwait the remaining $47.8 billion in damages to Kuwait's oilfield assets.

When the Iraqi army retreated months after invading and occupying Iraq in 1990, it set fire to Kuwait's oilfields, enacting a devastating toll on the Middle East nation's petroleum-based economy.