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Re: Iraq to Hold Talks on War Missinf

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: January 08, 2003

"Iraq Holds Talks with Kuwait, Saudi on War Missing
Wed January 8, 2003 05:45 AM ET
By Suleiman al-Khalidi

AMMAN (Reuters) - Iraq held talks Wednesday for the first time in four years with its Gulf War foes Kuwait and Saudi Arabia on the fate of hundreds of people who went missing during the 1990-1991 conflict, officials said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it was chairing the meeting in the Jordanian capital for the first time since Iraq boycotted talks after a U.S.-British bombing campaign in December 1998.

"The meeting is to handle the unresolved humanitarian issues from the Gulf War, including the determination of the whereabouts of hundreds of civilians and military personnel reported missing," said Muin Kassis, an ICRC spokesman.

"The only positive significance is that of the resumption of the dialogue," he told reporters in Amman.

The problem of accounting for the fate of some 600 Kuwaitis and others taken prisoner by Iraq in 1990-91 has festered for the past decade, with Baghdad objecting to the nature of the U.N. negotiations in Geneva, which have often included U.S. and British officials as observers.

Some 550 of the 605 people missing since the war, which ended Iraq's seven-month occupation of Kuwait, were Kuwaiti citizens and the rest were of various nationalities.

While 191 of the missing Kuwaitis were soldiers, they were not taken prisoner in combat but were rounded up and taken back to Iraq by retreating forces and have not been heard from since.

Iraq has contended it lost track of the prisoners during a Shi'ite Muslim uprising in southern Iraq following its soldiers' retreat from Kuwait in 1991.

Iraq has recently made several gestures aimed at improving relations with Kuwait, Saudi Arabia. The moves coincided with a stepped up U.S. military buildup in the Gulf region and threats of military action if it fails to disarm.

The United Nations said earlier this week its official in charge of accounting for prisoners of war and property missing since the invasion of Kuwait, was due to pay his first visit to Baghdad late next week.

Yuli Vorontsov, a former Russian U.N. ambassador, is set to arrive in Baghdad on January 17 for two days of talks.

He is then scheduled to visit Kuwait, Amman, Cairo and Saudi Arabia for consultations with other interested officials in the region.

Reuters "