Gulf War reparations body pays out $972.4 mln

GENEVA - The United Nations Gulf War reparations body paid out a further $972.4 million on Tuesday for losses due to Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait, bringing the total to nearly $24.4 billion, the agency said.
The payments included some compensation for environmental damage inflicted on Iraq's neighbours during the seven-month occupation which began in August 1990, the U.N. Compensation Commission (UNCC) said in a statement.
Kuwaiti companies and state entities received the lion's share of the latest round of compensation, $725.1 million, followed by Saudi Arabia ($148 million), the United States ($76 million) and Turkey ($23.3 million).
Iraq's government has become more vocal in calling on world powers to lower the percentage of its oil exports earmarked for the Geneva-based fund, the largest programme ever set up to settle post-conflict damage claims.
Iraqi troops destroyed and stole property and also set oil fires during the occupation which ended when a U.S.-led coalition drove them from the emirate in February 1991.
Under the U.N.-imposed peace terms, Iraq must pay a share of its oil income to the UNCC to compensate people, companies and governments which prove losses. It currently receives 5 percent of Iraqi oil income to pay claims, roughly $220 million a month, UNCC officials said.
In all, the UNCC's Governing Body has approved $52.3 billion worth of claims, but $28 billion is still owed. Speed of payment will depend on its income, but will take years at current rates.
Iraq said last week Kuwait had agreed to review the question of reducing Iraq's compensation payments. But Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al-Salem Al-Sabah said any change in the compensation regime must be decided by the Security Council.
Kuwait, which has received nearly $14 billion from the UNCC, is still owed some $27 billion, UNCC officials said.
Iraq, which initially had 30 percent of its oil exports diverted to the UNCC, lobbied to further cut the percentage from 5 percent at the Governing Council session in April, they said.
'The Governing Council considered it very seriously. Due to a question of priority for the environment, it did not agree but has encouraged the two governments to find a solution under the auspices of the UNCC,' Mojtaba Kazazi, Governing Council secretary, told Reuters on Tuesday.