Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=3/31/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=I-C-R-C / IRAQ P-O-WS (L O)

NUMBER=2-301566

BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN

DATELINE=GENEVA

CONTENT=

INTRO: The International Committee of the Red Cross says it has begun visiting Iraqi prisoners of war captured by the coalition forces. As Lisa Schlein reports from Geneva, Red Cross officials say about three-thousand Iraqi P-O-Ws are being held in a camp near the southern Iraqi town of Umm Qasr.

TEXT: The International Committee of the Red Cross says the commander of the camp is allowing the I-C-R-C delegates full access to the Iraqi prisoners. The Red Cross team consists of 15 people, including a doctor and six interpreters.

The head of I-C-R-C Operations in the Middle East and North Africa, Balthasar Staehelin, says delegates already have registered about 100 P-O-Ws and that process will continue every day until all the prisoners names and vital information is recorded.

He says the delegates will hold group and private interviews with the P-O-Ws. The Iraqi soldiers will be given medical examinations and efforts will be made to re-establish family links between the P-O-Ws and their relatives. Mr. Staehelin says the agency will visit the P-O-Ws on a regular basis.

/// STAEHELIN ACT ///

The International Committee of the Red Cross is pleased to have been able to start this first visit and is committed to visit all prisoners of war on all sides wherever they are.

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Mr. Staehelin says the Iraqis have not revealed how many coalition P-O-Ws they are holding, nor how many may have been killed. But he says he is confident that the Red Cross will receive permission to visit U-S and British prisoners of war.

/// 2ND STAEHELIN ACT ///

We have had an indication, a clear indication that the I-C-R-C will be granted access and indeed two ministers of the Iraqi government have publicly stated that they will respect the third Geneva Convention. So, of course, we hope that these visits can take place very rapidly, as soon as possible. For the time being there is no date set.

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The Red Cross official says the aim of the visits to P-O-Ws is to monitor their treatment and conditions of detention. And to make sure they are granted all the rights due prisoners under Geneva Conventions. (Signed)

NEB/LS/KL/FC/KBK