Security Council calls for resolution of fate of missing Kuwaitis in Iraq

The United Nations Security Council today called on all countries, organizations and individuals to help in resolving the fate of 605 Kuwaitis and other nationals missing since Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

The Council issued the call after holding consultations on Secretary-General Kofi Annan's latest report on the issue, in which he voices hope that matter will now be solved quickly after the end of the current conflict in Iraq.

The Secretary-General's High-level Coordinator, Yuli Vorontsov of the Russian Federation, briefed the Council on the report.

"Members of the Council call on all states organizations and individuals that can support the ongoing investigations to step up their efforts and provide information that can lead to the discovery of the whereabouts of the 605 missing Kuwaitis and other nationals," the Council said in a statement.

"We hope that these investigations under the new circumstances in Iraq will be concluded satisfactorily," Ambassador Adolfo Aguilar Zinser of Mexico, Council president for April, said after the meeting.