US, Kuwait reestablish diplomatic ties with Iraq

The United States on Monday said it has reestablished diplomatic relations with Iraq for the first time since 1991 when the former regime of Saddam Hussein broke ties with Washington and invaded the emirate in 1990.

"The United States established diplomatic relations with the Iraqi government on Monday," the new US mission in Baghdad said in a statement.

US ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte, arrived in the war-battered country on Monday, to replace former US overseer Paul Bremer who left after the US-led coalition transferred sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government.

Negroponte would present his credentials shortly to the government, the US mission said.

Iraq broke ties with the United States in early February 1991 after the outbreak of the Gulf War in which a US-led multinational force evicted Iraqi occupation forces from Kuwait.

Following the transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi government, "the state of Kuwait announces the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with its Arab republic sister," a Kuwaiti foreign affairs spokesman told the official KUNA news agency.

Meanwhile, France is prepared to resume diplomatic relations with Iraq, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said Tuesday, the day after US overseer Paul Bremer handed over power to an interim Iraqi government.

"We are disposed to rapidly restore, in cooperation with the Iraqi authorities, our diplomatic relations with the republic of Iraq," Barnier said in a statement released by the French foreign ministry.