UNSC welcomes Kuwaiti contribution to settle missing persons, property issues

Politics 6/15/2010 11:42:00 PM

UNITED NATIONS, June 15 (KUNA) -- The Security Council on Tuesday welcomed Kuwaiti Government's decision to provide almost USD one million to help build the capacity of the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights in mass grave excavation and identification of missing persons who disappeared during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990.
The project, sponsored by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), was "the reflection of Kuwait's willingness to help Iraq find the remains of missing persons regardless of their nationality," Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated in his latest report on the issue.
The council also "took note" of the Kuwaiti Plan of Action presented earlier this year to the Technical Subcommittee (TSC) of the Tripartite Committee of the ICRC, and the supporting documents, including the lists of names and sketches of Iraqi security officials active during the occupation of Kuwait.
In a statement to the press after a briefing to the council by Gennady Tarasov, the UN High-Level Coordinator on the Kuwaiti missing people and property, council President Claude Heller of Mexico said the members supported Ban's recommendation to extend the financing of Tarasov's mandate for six months "in order to build on the present momentum." He said the council expressed its "willingness" to consider this matter when it reviews Iraq's request to get out from under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.
Heller said the members "appreciated" Tarasov's efforts and the "important work" of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Tripartite Commission and its Technical Subcommittee during the past few months.
He added that the members noted that the confidence and cooperation-building period between Iraq and Kuwait, launched in April 2009, had proven to be "useful", and welcomed the increased cooperation by the Kuwaiti and Iraqi Governments that led to "positive developments on the ground, " including the discovery of Iraqi mission person in Kuwait.
The council members also welcomed the beginning of the implementation of an agreed plan to investigate the possibility that Kuwaiti missing persons may be found at new burial sites in Iraq.
In this regard, the members recognized that no confirmed remains of Kuwaiti or third country nationals have been found during the reporting period, and again expressed their "deepest sympathy and condolences" to the families of the missing people.
They also welcomed the "positive steps" taken by the Iraqi Government including publishing the pictures and names of missing persons on the website of the Ministry of Human Rights and requesting any citizen with information to come forward, and forming an Iraqi Inter-Ministerial committee to take work forward on the issue of missing persons.
The members also "took note that limited progress" has been made on clarifying the fate of the Kuwaiti national archives, and welcomed the Iraqi Government's announcement in its official newspaper calling on anyone in possession of such documents or other Kuwaiti property to contact the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
They also supported Ban's call on both countries 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."

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