The call was made in a press statement by Ambassador Valery Kuchinsky of Ukraine, which holds the Council's rotating presidency for the month of March. "Members of the Council believe that resumption of Iraq's participation in the meetings of the tripartite Commission, and its cooperation with the Secretary-General's High-level Coordinator for missing Kuwait and third country nationals, Ambassador Yuli Vorontsov, is of crucial importance," the statement said.

The Council also held consultations today on Sierra Leone, on which it received a briefing by Dmitry Titov, Director of the Africa Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, on Secretary-General Kofi Annan's recent report. The United Kingdom introduced a draft resolution calling for an increase in the size of the UN Mission in Sierra Leone to 17,500 troops and an extension of the mission's mandate for six months beyond its expiration this Saturday. That draft will be discussed on Friday, a UN spokesman told reporters at UN Headquarters.

Asked whether the request for 17,500 troops represented a decrease from the Secretary-General's previous request for a troop ceiling of up to 20,500 troops, the spokesman said that the lower number was sought by the Secretary-General as an interim step. The Council is willing to consider more troops, but the UN Mission has so far received offers for troops that would allow it to approach the 17,500 level, he said.