UAE forgives $4 billion in Iraqi debt
Iraq's increased stability has also prompted the United Arab Emirates to renew diplomatic ties.
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - The United Arab Emirates canceled billions of dollars of Iraqi debt yesterday and moved to restore a full diplomatic mission in Baghdad, evidence of Iraq's improved security and growing acceptance of its Shiite-led government.
The Abu Dhabi government announced the debt relief and the naming of a new UAE ambassador to Baghdad shortly after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki began a visit to the Persian Gulf nation.
The news was sure to bolster Maliki's government, which has been urging Iraq's Sunni Arab neighbors to forgive loans taken during Saddam Hussein's regime and restore diplomatic relations.
Maliki, who has been in office since May 2006, thanked the UAE for the debt cancellation, telling a meeting with businessmen that it was a "swift and courageous" decision.
The Emirates' official news agency, WAM, quoted the country's president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, as saying he hoped canceling the debt would lighten the "economic burden" facing Iraqis, whom he urged to unite behind Maliki's government.
WAM said the debt was $4 billion not including interest. A UAE official said the total debt was $7 billion when interest was added.
Iraq has been appealing for relief of at least $67 billion in foreign debt - owed mostly to Arab nations that have been reluctant to forgive Iraq's belligerence during Hussein's regime.
In addition, the U.N. Compensation Commission says $28 billion remains to be paid for Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Iraq now gives 5 percent of its oil revenue to meet the compensation claims.
Maliki's American backers have pushed Arab states to restore ties with Iraq. Jordan, Iraq's neighbor to the west, named an ambassador last week, and Kuwait and Bahrain say they will soon follow suit.
Meanwhile, a top Iraqi official said yesterday that the United States has presented Iraq with a proposed list of military facilities Washington wants to maintain control of as part of negotiations between the two countries on a long-term security agreement.
Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani said the timing for how long the United States would control each facility before handing it over to the Iraqis would be based on the security situation in each area.
Iraq's deputy foreign minister, Labid Abbawi, said yesterday that the country plans to open consulates soon in Detroit and San Diego.
"We chose those two cities because they have large numbers of Iraqi communities," Abbawi said.
Violence in Iraq is at its lowest level in four years, but attacks continue.
A Kurdish party member was injured yesterday in an assassination attempt by a roadside bomb that killed seven people and wounded three others in Iraq's eastern Diyala province. The bomb targeted a vehicle carrying Muhammad Ramadan Issa of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, killing five members of his family and two of his guards, said Sirwan Shukr, a local government official.
Also yesterday, a car bomb in the northern Shiite Baghdad district of Shaab killed six people and injured 14, including three police officers, according to police and medical officials.