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 UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Iraq's main creditors, including Saudi Arabia, will not write off billions of dollars in debt until they see progress on national reconciliation, economic reform and security, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Friday.
Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who left Iraq in March after nearly two years as the top U.S. diplomat there, said that the Sunni-ruled Saudi kingdom will not write off debt it estimates to be as much as $18 billion until Iraq's Shiite and Kurd-led government makes the country more stable, united and fair for all factions.
The Iraqi government says its huge Saddam-era debt to various countries — amounting by some estimates to over $60 billion — is too big a burden when it is trying to rebuild. But Saudi Arabia, one of Iraq's biggest creditors, has withheld relief amid concerns about the growing influence of Shiite Iran in Iraq, and what they say is the marginalization of Iraq's minority Sunnis.
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