DATE=4/26/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-N - MISSING KUWAITIS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261753
BYLINE=BRECK ARDERY
DATELINE=UNITED NATIONS
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:


INTRO:  The United Nations Security Council today 
(Wednesday) appealed to the government of Iraq to tell 
what it knows about more than 600 Kuwaitis and others 
who are still unaccounted for nine years after the 
Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. V-O-A Correspondent Breck 
Ardery reports from the United Nations. 


TEXT:  Meeting in closed session, the Council heard a 
briefing from Yuli Vorontsov, the U-N coordinator for 
Kuwaiti prisoners of war and missing persons. Mr. 
Vorontsov, a former Russian diplomat, says it is a 
tragedy that, nine years after the end of the Gulf 
war, relatives of the missing do not know the fate of 
their loved ones, or even if they are dead or alive.

In his report, Mr. Vorontsov says that, since 1998, 
Iraq has provided no information on more than 600 
people who disappeared during the Iraqi occupation of 
Kuwait in 1990 and 1991. Mr. Vorontsov, who was 
appointed to the position of special coordinator two 
months ago, has yet to meet formally with Iraqi 
officials.

After the meeting, Security Council President Robert 
Fowler of Canada told reporters the Council urges Iraq 
to provide all information it can about the missing 
people.

            /// FOWLER ACT ///

      Members of the Council are deeply concerned 
      about the plight of Kuwaiti and third-party 
      nationals and express hope that this issue will 
      be dealt with strictly as a humanitarian one by 
      all sides concerned. Members of the Council urge 
      Iraq to cooperate with Ambassador Vorontsov and 
      resume cooperation with all other agencies and 
      bodies dealing with this issue.

            /// END ACT ///

In a statement released on the missing people, U-S 
representative James Cunningham says that, under 
Security Council resolutions, Iraq has a legal 
obligation to provide a full accounting. Beyond that, 
Mr. Cunningham says, it is the decent and humanitarian 
thing to do. (Signed)

NEB/BA/LSF/TVM/gm



26-Apr-2000 16:59 PM EDT (26-Apr-2000 2059 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
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