Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05KUWAIT4317
2005-10-04 13:27:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kuwait
Cable title:  

LATEST FIGURES ON GOK COMPENSATION CLAIMS AGAINST

Tags:  PGOV PREL KU IZ KUWAIT IRAQ RELATIONS 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 004317 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARPI SWALKER, LONDON FOR LTSOU, JEDDAH FOR
AMBASSADOR JEFFREY AND MAGGIE HABIB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/02/2010
TAGS: PGOV PREL KU IZ KUWAIT IRAQ RELATIONS
SUBJECT: LATEST FIGURES ON GOK COMPENSATION CLAIMS AGAINST
IRAQ

Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Matthew Tueller. Reasons 1.4 (b
) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 004317

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARPI SWALKER, LONDON FOR LTSOU, JEDDAH FOR
AMBASSADOR JEFFREY AND MAGGIE HABIB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/02/2010
TAGS: PGOV PREL KU IZ KUWAIT IRAQ RELATIONS
SUBJECT: LATEST FIGURES ON GOK COMPENSATION CLAIMS AGAINST
IRAQ

Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Matthew Tueller. Reasons 1.4 (b
) and (d)


1. (U) Summary. In an October 2 meeting with Economic
Counselor, the Chairman of the GOK's Public Authority for
Assessment of Compensation for Damages Resulting from Iraqi
Aggression made the following points: (1) USG should help
ensure continued UN oversight of the claims process; (2) all
Kuwaiti claims have been adjudicated by the UN; (3) GOK
supports the UN decision to prioritize the repayment of
Kuwait's individual and environmental claims ahead of oil
sector and government claims; (4) GOK expects all claims will
be paid in full over time but prefers to work modalities with
UN oversight rather than bilaterally with Iraq. End Summary



2. (SBU) Economic Counselor met on October 2 with Khalid
Al-Mudaf, Chairman of the GOK's Public Authority for
Assessment of Compensation for Damages Resulting from Iraqi
Aggression, to get an update on the status of GOK claims
against Iraq and to inform Al-Mudaf of the upcoming visit to
Kuwait by Ambassador James Jeffrey, Senior Advisor and
Coordinator on Iraq. Al-Mudaf clarified the status of
compensation claims as reviewed by the UN Claims Commission
(UNCC),explaining that all Kuwaiti claims had been
adjudicated by the UNCC. The claims were considered under
four broad categories: (1) individual (including personal and
non-oil business claims),(2) GOK (ministerial--excluding
oil),(3) environmental, and (4) oil sector.


3. (U) Al-Mudaf provided a spreadsheet detailing the latest
figures (all in USD):

--Individual:
--Claimed 19,659,942,009
--Awarded 8,400,259,088
--Received 7,411,910,823

--Government:
--Claimed 113,460,307,509
--Awarded 8,282,839,022
--Received 2,168,909,519

--Environment:
--Claimed 16,655,537,302
--Awarded 3,786,231,496
--Received 175,706,901

--Oil Sector:
--Claimed 28,060,947,690
--Awarded 20,716,039,817
--Received 441,236,549

--TOTAL:
--Claimed 177,836,734,510
--Awarded 41,185,369,423
--Received 10,197,763,792



4. (U) Al-Mudaf stated that the UNCC's governing council,
comprised of all 15 UNSC member states, decided in June to
prioritize the repayment of individual and environmental
claims before resuming repayment of GOK and oil sector
claims. Expressing GOK support for the prioritization,
Al-Muhad asserted that repayment of environmental claims was
a top GOK priority. He expressed hope for similar
prioritization by Iraq, and would welcome USG assistance in
conveying to the ITG the urgency of addressing the
environmental claims given the negative impact on public
health (Note: Al-Mudaf referred to a Harvard University
public health study. The study asserted a twenty-fold
increase in the death rate among Kuwaitis exposed to the
environmental damage of the war and its aftermath versus
Kuwaitis who spent that time as refugees abroad.)


5. (C) Al-Mudaf expressed disappointment with the UN's
decision in 2003 to reduce the percentage of Iraq's oil and
gas revenues withheld for payment of UNCC adjudicated claims
from 25 percent to 5 percent. The Chairman thought it ironic
that the percentage withheld today "under the occupation" is
one-fifth that withheld when Saddam Hussein was in power. He
urged continued USG support to prevent further rate
reductions. His deputy, Mohammad Okasha, expressed similar
disappointment with the UN's awarded amounts. Okasha
lamented that the UN apparently had not taken into
consideration the GOK's stringent accounting requirements for
claimants when determining the final awarded amounts. He
stressed that the GOK applied stringent accounting measures
with claimants to ensure accuracy and accountability, but
that the UNCC arbitrarily had reduced the claims' values, in
his view.

6. (C) Both interlocutors expressed concern with UNCC plans
to cease oversight of the process by 2007, which would
require Kuwait and Iraq to resolve matters bilaterally.
Noting that it would "take a generation for relations to
normalize" between Kuwait and Iraq, Al-Mudaf said the GOK
would prefer to have continued UN oversight of the
politically sensitive claims process. He urged USG
engagement with the UN to ensure that organization's
continued involvement.


7. (C) Both Al-Mudaf and Okasha said they anticipated
Kuwait's securing full repayment for the awarded amounts
despite the expected lengthy repayment timeline. Al-Mudaf
pointed out that at the current 5 percent rate, the
environmental claims would not be resolved until 2016. He
added that per the UNCC decision, repayment of government
claims would begin in 2016, only after full repayment of
environmental claims, and that the government claims would
require another 24 years to be paid in full.

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Visit Embassy Kuwait's Classified Website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/
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LEBARON