DATE=4/12/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=IRAN / IRAQ P-O-W (L)
NUMBER=2-261228
BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB
DATELINE=CAIRO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:


INTRO:  Iran has sent home nearly two-thousand 
prisoners from its war with Iraq in the 1980s.  Iraq 
says nine-thousand prisoners still remain.  But V-O-A 
Middle East Correspondent Scott Bobb reports the Red 
Cross says all Iraqi prisoners in Iran who wish to 
return home have been repatriated.


TEXT:  The former prisoners crossed the border at 
Munthriya, northeast of Baghdad, in four groups during 
the past few days.  The Iraqi News Agency says they 
were greeted by family members and thousands of well 
wishers who lined the road, throwing flowers and candy 
at them.

Many of the former prisoners had spent 15 years or 
more in Iran and were  not  immediately recognized by 
their families.

Iran says it released the prisoners as a humanitarian 
gesture.  Iran says Iraq continues to hold five-
thousand Iranian prisoners of war, which Iraq denies. 
Iraq says Iran is still holding nine-thousand Iraqis 
as prisoners.

The Red Cross says nearly five-thousand Iraqi war 
prisoners interviewed by its officials said they 
wished to remain in Iran.

The Red Cross says nearly nine-thousand Iraqi 
prisoners from the Iran-Iraq war have been returned 
home since the process began two years ago.  The 
organization says three Iranian prisoners and nearly 
400 detained civilians returned to Iran during this 
period.

Both countries are still recovering from the Iran-Iraq 
war, which lasted eight years and took an estimated 
one-million lives.  The war ended with a cease-fire in 
1988, but the two countries did  not  sign a peace 
treaty.   (Signed)

NEB/SB/JWH/JP





12-Apr-2000 12:57 PM EDT (12-Apr-2000 1657 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.