DATE=1/9/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=IRAQ/KUWAIT/SAUDI (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-257907
BYLINE=RICHARD ENGEL
DATELINE=CAIRO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Iraq's Foreign Minister has said that his
government may soon begin to cooperate with Kuwait and
Saudi Arabia to resolve long-standing disputes over
people still missing since the Gulf War. Richard Engel
reports from our Middle East bureau that governments
in the Gulf region claim that about two thousand
people are still missing nearly a decade after the war
ended.
TEXT: Iraqi Foreign Minister Sayid al-Sahaf told a
newspaper in the United Arab Emirates that Iraq may
soon repatriate the remains of a Saudi pilot shot down
during the Gulf War.
Mr. al-Sahaf says the wreckage of the Saudi plane had
been located recently and an Iraqi officer who buried
the pilot in a minefield in Iraq had offered to help
recover the body.
The government in Baghdad has previously denied having
any knowledge of the location of the pilot's remains.
Mr. al-Sahaf also said Iraq could soon work with
Kuwait to find people still missing since the Gulf
War, but denied allegations that Iraq is holding
Kuwaiti prisoners.
Kuwait claims that Iraq holds some six hundred of its
nationals in prison.
Mr. al-Sahaf in turn says Kuwait refuses to provide
information about more than one thousand Iraqis that
Baghdad claims disappeared after it invaded Kuwait in
1990.
The Iraqi minister said Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq
should cooperate under the auspices of the
International Committee of the Red Cross to
investigate the fate of all those still missing since
the Gulf War.
Mr. al-Sahaf insisted that the United States, Britain
and France should not be involved in any discussions
since Iraq had already resolved any problems about
missing people from those countries. (SIGNED)
NEB/RHE/DW/PLM
09-Jan-2000 07:22 AM EDT (09-Jan-2000 1222 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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