NEW YORK: Kuwait
has anew confirmed importance of strengthening regional security since the
establishment of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in 1981, through resolving
differences between countries of the region since its first years of
independence. Kuwait's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Mansour
Al-Otaibi made this statement while speaking during a UN Security Council
meeting on challenges of peace and security in the Middle East.

Otaibi pointed
out that Kuwait is seeking to strengthen its relations with Iran based on
dialogue and mutual respect. He said that the dialogue is based on adopting
confidence-building measures and avoiding unilateral measures, which would
increase the tension of the Gulf waters, disturbing the safety of waterways and
undermining the security in the world.

The issues of the
Middle East are intertwined and complex, currently taking up a large part of
the Security Council's agenda, ranging from 30-40 percent of the agenda, as the
region witnessed many wars and crises for more than seven decades, he said. He
added that this region, which is the ground of three monotheistic religions,
human civilizations, cultures, some of the oldest cities worldwide, contains
tremendous natural resources and vast human resources, in which it
unfortunately witnesses crises.

Region's woes

Otaibi said that
both the UN and Security Council deal with the Palestinian issue, Syria, Yemen,
Sudan and Libya, that are currently under occupation of parts of their
territory. The region is confronting terrorism, witnessing six internal
conflicts in six Arab countries out of 14 peacekeeping operations, in addition
to the crisis of refugees and displaced people, he said. It has been reiterated
in more than one meeting that the solution to the Palestinian issue lies in
restoring the right of their owners to their land and their state, reaching a
comprehensive, just and lasting settlement through the implementation of the
relevant Security Council resolutions, ending the occupation and establishing a
Palestinian state
with East Jerusalem as its capital, he said.

Israel's policies
since joining the UN are united by a common factor: non-compliance with its
charter, non-implementation of Security Council resolutions and international
legitimacy, also nonstop violations in the absence of any accountability, he
mentioned. The UN Charter is his primary means of conflict prevention, he said
pointing out that there have been initiatives for years that Israel has
rejected, such as suggesting Middle East to be free of mass destruction
weapons.

On the
humanitarian side, Otaibi underlined that his work must be human-centered and
the law is its source, to seek a decent life for the people peacefully. Adding
that Kuwait has joined with France and a group of countries in defending
civilians and generating facilities such as hospitals and schools to prevent
targeting them during wars. He brought up witnessing the occupation of Kuwait,
which had numerous violations of international humanitarian law, so because of
that, doubled thoughtfulness is ensured that everyone respects the
international humanitarian law.

He pointed out
that the number of refugees and displaced people in the Arab countries rose to
24 million. Political solutions to the region's problems remain a priority and
ending the occupation is the first of these solutions. He underscored that
investment in education is one of the most prominent areas of Kuwait's assistance.
Crimes of terrorists such as the so-called Islamic State and others resulted to
the destruction of monuments and civilizations, as the impact of wars
devastated cities, erasing memories preserved by previous generations, he said.

Yemen's unity

Separately,
Kuwait has stressed the importance of preserving unity and sovereignty of
Yemen, expressing concern over the latest developments in the city of Aden and
is looking forward to the efforts exerted by Saudi Arabia in hosting talks in
Jeddah between the Yemeni government and representatives of the Southern
Transitional Council. This came in Kuwait's speech at the Security Council
session on Yemen which Otaibi delivered Tuesday night.

Otaibi expressed
hope that the final outcome of the talks will lead to the return of security
and stability in a way that preserves Yemen's unity and sovereignty over its
territory. "Eight months have passed since the Stockholm Agreement entered
into force, during which it witnessed the continuation of the impasse and the
lack of any tangible progress," he said. He stressed that the political
solution is based on the dialogue sponsored by the United Nations and through
resolutions 2451, 2452 and 2481 adopted unanimously by the Council as well as
several press statements emphasizing the need for full implementation of this
agreement.

Otaibi pointed
out that the Stockholm agreement did not witness any constructive measures that
lead to achieving the desired objectives, as the city of Taiz is still under
siege for the past four years and have not witnessed any concrete measures
towards achieving or even starting to implement the Taiz understandings, in
addition to the continuous stalemate to implement the agreement for the
exchange of prisoners and detainees. He pointed out that the Hodeidah agreement
is still struggling to reach the starting point and get out of the first phase
of implementation, which will be done only by respecting the understandings and
agreements reached through the Redeployment Coordinating Committee on the
concept of operations.

Otaibi welcomed
the efforts of the Special Envoy in this regard by submitting proposals to
break the stalemate associated with the elements of the Stockholm Agreement,
stressing at the same time that these efforts should be based on understandings
to ensure the full exercise of the sovereignty of the Yemeni government on its
territory. He reiterated Kuwait's firm position that there is no military
solution to the crisis in Yemen, stressing the statement of the Special Envoy on
the need to reduce the pace of military escalation and reiterated that the
utmost importance lies in the full and concrete implementation of all three
elements of the Stockholm Agreement. - KUNA