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26 April 2000

Text: Ambassador Cunningham's Remarks on Kuwaiti POWs

(Iraq is obligated to release prisoners or their remains, U.S. says)
(510)
United Nations -- Pointing out that Baghdad has not participated in
the U.N. commission working out the return of Kuwaiti POWs, U.S.
Ambassador James Cunningham said April 26 that "Iraq has an obligation
to release these prisoners immediately, return the remains of those
who are deceased and to work through the ICRC (International Committee
of the Red Cross) to provide a full accounting for these people."
The U.S. Mission to the United Nations released Cunningham's statement
after a private Security Council meeting with Ambassador Yuli
Vorontsov, the new U.N. coordinator for the Kuwaiti POW issue.
Vorontsov recently submitted the first report on his efforts to
determine the fate of Kuwaiti and other nationals unaccounted for
after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
Following is the text of the ambassador's remarks:
(begin text)
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
USUN PRESS RELEASE
Statement by Ambassador James Cunningham
United States Deputy Permanent
Representative to the United Nations
on the Kuwaiti POWs Issue
I want to thank Ambassador Vorontsov for briefing the Council today on
the Kuwait POW/MIA issue. Ambassador Vorontsov is an extraordinary
individual, a diplomat in the best sense of the word, who brings
considerable talent to bear on this sad and tragic issue.
During the 1990-91 occupation of Kuwait, the Iraqis arrested thousands
of unarmed Kuwaitis and third country residents of Kuwait. Most were
released following liberation, but as Ambassador Vorontsov's report
and briefing make clear, over 600 never returned. 592 of those people
were civilians, and most of them were neither soldiers nor policemen.
They were arrested in an organized fashion by Iraqi authorities, who
should have a record of their fate. For the last ten years, their
families have had no word of whether their loved ones are alive or
dead.
Iraq has an obligation to release these prisoners immediately, return
the remains of those who are deceased and to work through the ICRC to
provide a full accounting for these people. That is spelled out
clearly in UNSCR's 686, 687, and 1284. Moreover, it is the decent,
humanitarian thing to do. The first step toward fulfilling this
obligation is for Iraq to resume participation in the Tripartite
Commission and its Technical Subcommittee.
Ambassador Vorontsov has made great efforts to bring the Iraqis into
serious discussions about the POW's. The Iraqis have yet to accept his
role. We listened with interest to his briefing on his meetings with
the Kuwaitis, the OIC and the Arab League.
Iraq has now been absent from the Tripartite Commission and its
Technical Subcommittee for almost a year and a half and prior to that,
has not seriously engaged on resolving POW cases. We hope that
Ambassador Vorontsov will have better news to share in his next report
four months from now.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)