UN Council Calls on Iraq to Account for Missing KuwaitisThe UN Security Council Thursday called upon Iraq to account for Kuwaitis and others missing since Baghdad's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.The current president of the 15-nation council, Valey Kuchinsky of Ukraine, made the appeal in response to another request from Kuwait. The council members "urge Iraq to fully cooperate with all agencies and bodies dealing with this issue in order to achieve progress in resolving this humanitarian situation," Kuchinsky said in his statement read to reporters here. Kuchinsky, Ukraine's permanent representative to the United Nations, said that the council planned a meeting next month on the issue, which diplomats see as a major stumbling block for Baghdad in its campaign for the lifting of sanctions imposed by the Security council after the August 1990 invasion. The missing Kuwaitis also played a role in the failure of this week's Arab summit in Amman, capital of Jordan, to agree on a call for the lifting of U.N. sanctions against Iraq, reports said. Kuwait said that more than 600 people -- mostly Kuwaitis but also others who were in the emirate at the time of the Iraqi invasion -- are unaccounted for. Iraq denies it is holding any prisoners after its six-month occupation of Kuwait. |
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