DATE=4/26/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-N - MISSING KUWAITIS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261753
BYLINE=BRECK ARDERY
DATELINE=UNITED NATIONS
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United Nations Security Council today
(Wednesday) appealed to the government of Iraq to tell
what it knows about more than 600 Kuwaitis and others
who are still unaccounted for nine years after the
Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. V-O-A Correspondent Breck
Ardery reports from the United Nations.
TEXT: Meeting in closed session, the Council heard a
briefing from Yuli Vorontsov, the U-N coordinator for
Kuwaiti prisoners of war and missing persons. Mr.
Vorontsov, a former Russian diplomat, says it is a
tragedy that, nine years after the end of the Gulf
war, relatives of the missing do not know the fate of
their loved ones, or even if they are dead or alive.
In his report, Mr. Vorontsov says that, since 1998,
Iraq has provided no information on more than 600
people who disappeared during the Iraqi occupation of
Kuwait in 1990 and 1991. Mr. Vorontsov, who was
appointed to the position of special coordinator two
months ago, has yet to meet formally with Iraqi
officials.
After the meeting, Security Council President Robert
Fowler of Canada told reporters the Council urges Iraq
to provide all information it can about the missing
people.
/// FOWLER ACT ///
Members of the Council are deeply concerned
about the plight of Kuwaiti and third-party
nationals and express hope that this issue will
be dealt with strictly as a humanitarian one by
all sides concerned. Members of the Council urge
Iraq to cooperate with Ambassador Vorontsov and
resume cooperation with all other agencies and
bodies dealing with this issue.
/// END ACT ///
In a statement released on the missing people, U-S
representative James Cunningham says that, under
Security Council resolutions, Iraq has a legal
obligation to provide a full accounting. Beyond that,
Mr. Cunningham says, it is the decent and humanitarian
thing to do. (Signed)
NEB/BA/LSF/TVM/gm
26-Apr-2000 16:59 PM EDT (26-Apr-2000 2059 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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