>>French Claim Insufficient Evidence of Attacks on Kuwait
By Scott Hogenson
CNSNews.com Executive Editor
April 02, 2003
Kuwait City (CNSNews.com) - Kuwait's diplomatic efforts to muster condemnation of nearly 20 Iraqi missile attacks since the beginning of the war to remove Saddam Hussein from power are yielding mixed results, according to Kuwaiti officials.
Kuwaiti politicians and cabinet members have increased pressure on other Arab states and allies since Saturday, when an Iraqi missile slammed into a seawall adjacent to a downtown Kuwait City shopping center, injuring two and damaging the Souk Sharq Mall.
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Al-Hariri voiced his country's objections to any strikes against Kuwait, particularly those targeting civilian areas, the official Kuwaiti news agency KUNA announced Wednesday.
Efforts to gain a similar response from France have been less successful, with a French official in Paris saying they have no solid evidence of Iraqi missile attacks against Kuwait.
Saturday's strike on central Kuwait City was widely reported by international media covering the war in Iraq, but it is not clear whether French media covered the mall attack.
France is one of more than two dozen nations with which Kuwait has defense cooperation agreements signed after the 1991 Gulf War.
A similar agreement exists between France and Qatar, where 39 French specialists in biological and chemical warfare were sent in late March.
Although France has said evidence of some 17 missile attacks on Kuwait are inconclusive, French foreign ministry spokesman Francois Rivasseau was quoted by the agency as saying that the war to oust Saddam changes nothing diplomatically between France and Kuwait.
France has been a vocal opponent of the war, while Kuwait has been equally supportive, providing the launch pad for coalition military action in southern Iraq.
Kuwait Foreign Affairs Minister Sheik Mohammed Al Sabah said Monday he would seek support from China, Russia, France, Great Britain and the United States regarding the attacks by Iraq. Those nations are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, and Kuwait has defense agreements with all of them.
The U.S. and Great Britain, chief among the coalition combatants in the war, already are providing support for Kuwait. But like France, China and Russia have objected to the military action in Iraq.
Egypt and the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council have already criticized Iraq's attack against the Kuwaiti shopping mall.<<
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