US embassy cable - 03KUWAIT2163

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 002163 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/21/2013 
TAGS: PREL, IZ, KU, UN 
SUBJECT: KUWAIT STRONGLY PROTESTS NEW LANGUAGE ON 
COMPENSATION IN DRAFT UNSC RESOLUTION ON IRAQ 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Richard H. Jones, reasons 1.5 b and d. 
 
1. (C) MFA's Director General for International 
Organizations, Ambassador Abd al-Hamid al-Awadi, called the 
Ambassador at home late in the evening of May 20.  Al-Awadi 
explained that he had been instructed to contact the 
Ambassador at this late hour by First Deputy Prime Minister 
and Foreign Minister, Shaykh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, in 
order to register Kuwait's deep concern with Operative 
Paragraph 21 of the proposed new UN Security Council 
resolution on Iraq.  At Shaykh Sabah's request, al-Awadi 
would also be contacting the Ambassadors of the UK and Spain 
and would instruct Kuwait's embassies in Washington, Madrid 
and London to make parallel demarches.  According to 
al-Awadi, the Kuwaiti delegation had worked out mutually 
acceptable language for the operative paragraph (which deals 
with using oil revenues to fund compensation claims by 
victims of the 1990-91 Gulf War) with USUN on Thursday, May 
15.  The GOK was shocked when it saw that the US side had 
changed the agreed language without further consultation 
with Kuwait.  He claimed that USUN had told the Kuwaiti 
delegation in New York that it also was unaware of the 
genesis of the change, which had come from Washington. 
 
2. (C) In response to the Ambassador's questions, al-Awadi 
said that Kuwait was particularly concerned by a new clause 
in the paragraph that would allow a future internationally 
recognized Iraqi government and the governing board of the UN 
Compensation Commission to change arrangements for the 
funding of compensation claims.  He said that Kuwait would 
much prefer that such decisions "not be transferred to 
Geneva" but remain in the hands of the UN Security Council 
alone.  In response to a further question, he said that he 
had no guidance on whether Kuwait might be able to accept 
substituting the UNSC for the UNCC governing board in the 
currently proposed language.  Shaykh Sabah had only told him 
to protest the change from the previously agreed language and 
urge a return to it.  He added that Shaykh Sabah felt 
strongly that Kuwait had made significant compromises 
throughout the draft resolution and believed that this should 
be taken fully into account as Washington considered his 
request.  The Ambassador agreed to convey these points to the 
Department. 
 
3. (C) COMMENT:  It is quite unusual for an MFA official to 
contact the Ambassador at home at such a late hour.  This no 
doubt reflects the high anxiety that the GOK evidently feels 
about the new language in Operative Paragraph 21 of the draft 
UNSC resolution.  We are not sure why the GOK would object so 
strongly to a delegation of authority for compensation 
funding decisions from the UNSC to the UNCC governing board, 
since according to al-Awadi, the country membership is the 
same for both bodies.  However, we presume that it may have 
something to do with differences in procedures between them 
such as lack of P-5 veto power, or perhaps with a perception 
that transferring authority to Geneva would lead to a 
diminution of international attention to compensation. 
 
JONES