AMMAN, 17 February 2003 — Officials from the Kingdom, Kuwait and Iraq ended a third round of talks yesterday on the fate of hundreds of civilian and military personnel missing since the 1990-91 Gulf War, with the Kuwaitis saying no progress had been made on the sensitive issue.
“We got no information from the Iraqis on the missing,” said Kuwaiti delegation head Ibrahim Shahin, following a third round of talks at the Amman offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which is sponsoring the talks.
Shahin added his delegation had handed over information on missing Syrian, Bahraini and Lebanese nationals and said he hoped progress would be made at the next round of talks.
The two sides had agreed to meet again on March 2, he said. There was no comment from the Iraqi delegates following the discussions, held behind closed doors. (AFP/AP)
Yesterday’s meeting came against the backdrop of threats of another war by the United States and Britain if Iraq did not comply with UN resolutions demanding it rid itself of weapons of mass destruction.
Iraq has boycotted meetings since 1999 and only agreed to resume the talks in recent months, since Baghdad expressed willingness under international pressure to cooperate with the United Nations on its alleged weapons of mass destruction.
After two meetings of Saudi, Kuwaiti and Iraqi representatives in Amman last month, Kuwait said Iraq had not provided necessary information. The three countries are members of an international commission set up in 1991 to look into the fate of the missing.
Kuwait says 600 of its citizens and other nationals disappeared during the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Iraqi forces were driven out in 1991 by a US-led coalition.
Iraq insists it has no detainees but also accuses Kuwait of holding more than 1,000 Iraqis who disappeared during the Gulf War. The Kuwaitis say they cannot be held responsible for those who disappeared during the occupation. (AFP/AP)
