Kuwait, Iraq urged to cooperate

Published Date: June 11, 2010

UNITED NATIONS: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday expressed satisfaction at the progress reached in the issues of the missing Kuwaiti and other nationals and property, but urged both Kuwait and Iraq to cooperate further to bring these files to a satisfactory closure. In his bi-annual report to the Security Council on the subject, Ban said “I commend the concrete efforts undertaken by Iraq to meet its responsibilities (in this regard) and the proactive and supportive attitude of Kuwait. “Nevertheless, the positive results attained up to date have been primarily of a preparatory nature. No confirmed remains of Kuwaiti or third country nationals have been found during the reporting period. The main task of discovering and identifying them, and finally closing the files, lies ahead.

This objective can be achieved only through close cooperation and building bridges of trust between Iraq and Kuwait. The continued support of the international community and of the Security Council is essential for making significant and tangible progress in this important humanitarian issue.” Out of 605 people, 369 are still on the list of the missing nationals who were abducted and later killed by the Saddam regime during the 1990 occupation of Kuwait. Ban called on Iraq and Kuwait to “continue to act in the spirit of the confidence and cooperation-building process and apply this to the resolution of a larger set of outstanding issues between the two countries which should contribute to the further strengthening of their good-neighbourly relations and enhancing regional stability.

It appears that the confidence and cooperation-building period between Iraq and Kuwait, launched in April 2009, has proven to be useful in galvanizing the search for the missing Kuwaiti and third country nationals. It has helped to strengthen the practical cooperation between the parties concerned and to streamline the activities of various Iraqi government bodies and institutions under the Inter-Ministerial Committee, thus demonstrating that a genuine effort can bring results,” Ban said in his report.

For that purpose, Ban recommended that the Security Council extend the financing of the mandate of Gennady Tarasov, the UN High-level Coordinator for both files, until December 2010 in order to “build the present momentum” towards the implementation of the relevant council resolution.

He said that the Kuwaiti government officials Tarasov met with during his visit to Kuwait earlier this year stressed the “importance of clarifying the fate of missing Kuwaiti nationals, which continued to be a source of anguish for many families in their country, as well as the Kuwaiti property including the national archives.” He added that during their meetings with Tarasov, both Kuwaiti and Iraqi officials “found it necessary to accelerate practical steps on the ground with a view to achieving progress.

Ban recalled that earlier this year and during a meeting of the Technical Subcommittee (TSC) of the Tripartite Committee of the ICRC, Kuwait presented its Plan of Action and supporting documents, which included lists of names and sketches of Iraqi security officials active during the occupation of Kuwait. The Kuwaiti plan, he added, provided for wider information-gathering efforts with regard to burial sites and witnesses and also urged Iraq to reach out to local authorities, sheikhs and imams to help obtain information on the missing persons and property.

The current spirit of commitment and positive interaction among the members of the Tripartite Commission and its Technical Subcommittee has been a remarkable achievement and needs to be translated into tangible outcomes,” Ban said. He noted that the activities of Iraq in the search for missing Kuwaiti and third country nationals included publishing their pictures and names on the website of the Ministry of Human Rights, which requested anyone with information on the missing to come forward.

Iraq, Ban noted, even formed an Inter-Ministerial Committee to deal with this issue, consisting of the Ministries of Human Rights (Chair), Defense, Interior and National Security. This move, he said, resulted in the identification of an Iraqi witness who helped to find a new burial site near Ramadi. Samples of skeletal material from the site, Ban indicated, were handed over in March to Kuwait through the ICRC for DNA analysis. “While these samples may not match the reference data of the Kuwaiti missing per
sons, the step was welcomed by the TSC members as it was undertaken by Iraq on its own initiative,” Ban said.

Ban also noted that the Iraqi delegation to the TSC informed Tarasov that Iraq had “acquired certain additional experience in genetic extraction and DNA profiling, although a shortage of specialized equipment remained an acute problem.” Ban further noted that a team of experts and forensic specialists from the ICRC, Iraq, Kuwait, the United States and the United Kingdom discovered and exhumed the remains of 55 Iraqi military personnel in Northern Kuwait last month and that they were subsequently handed over to Iraq. “This success, coupled with the return of the remains of several Iraqi soldiers in March, demonstrated the effectiveness of sustained and professional action in finding missing people despite the passage of so many years,” Ban said.

Tarasov, he added, was informed that a similar team planned to undertake a mission to Nasseriya, Iraq, later this year, “where the remains of Kuwaiti missing persons may be buried among others.” Ban recalled that he wrote a letter last January to Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser welcoming the decision of the Kuwaiti government to contribute $974,000 to a project aimed at building the capacity of the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights with regard to mass grave excavation and the identification of missing persons.

A memorandum on the subject between the Kuwaiti Government represented by the Permanent Mission of Kuwait to the United Nations here and UNOPS was signed late last month. Ban also recalled in his report that he met here early last month with Kuwaiti deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Dr. Sheikh Mohammed Al-Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, who “reaffirmed the need to accelerate the implementation” of council resolution 1284 pertaining to the Kuwaiti missing persons and property, and welcomed the role played by
Tarasov.

Ban said Sheikh Mohammed also noted to him that Kuwait’s grant of almost $1 M to the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights was “the reflection of Kuwait’s willingness to help Iraq find the remains of missing persons regardless of their nationality.” “Kuwait viewed this as a humanitarian gesture aimed at strengthening confidence and trust between the two peoples,” Ban said.

Ban also recalled that he wrote letters to the Kuwaiti and Iraqi Prime Ministers last April calling for further efforts to achieve progress in the search for missing persons and property and to provide perspectives and practical suggestions for inclusion in this report before he presents it to the council.

He said Sheikh Nasser stressed in his reply last month that the issue of missing Kuwaiti persons and property “should be taken to a new and practical level, with a view to expediting the implementation by Iraq of its international commitments under the relevant Security Council resolutions, thereby strengthening the process of building trust and cooperation between the two countries.” – KUNA

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