Iraq Urged to Cooperate with U.N. over Missing KuwaitisThe United Nations Security Council Thursday called on Iraq to cooperate with the U.N. in dealing with the issue of missing Kuwaitis during the 1990 Gulf War.Council members "expressed their deep concern at the plight of the missing Kuwaiti and third country nationals and their families, and expressed their hope that this issue would be dealt with as a strictly humanitarian one by all sides concerned," the council said in a presidential statement. The statement was issued after the council met Thursday to hear a briefing by Yuli Vorontsov, a Russian diplomat appointed in February by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan as his high-level coordinator for missing Kuwaiti and third country nationals. Kuwait has since 1990 claimed that Iraq is still holding some 600 Kuwaiti and third country nationals missing during the Gulf War. The council stressed the importance of dialogue among all parties, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, and urged Iraq to fully cooperate with Vorontsov and resume cooperation with all other agencies and bodies dealing with the issue. |
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