By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA, June 28 (Reuters) - Iraq called on Tuesday for an end to a U.N. programme under which it pays compensation for damage from its 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the 1991 Gulf War, arguing debts should be settled bilaterally.

Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed Hamud Bidan spoke to Reuters before addressing the governing council of the U.N. Compensation Commission (UNCC), which uses five percent of Iraqi oil revenues for payouts.

“We suggest we stop the payments of five percent from oil revenues…it is too much for us. We think it is time now to stop and leave Iraq to negotiate directly with the states concerned,” Bidan said.

However, in a speech to the closed-door talks obtained by Reuters, Kuwait called for “political support…to ensure uninterrupted payments”.