Security Council endorses Annan report on murder of Kuwaitis by Saddam Hussein's regime

The United Nations Security Council today "strongly condemned" the execution by Saddam Hussein's regime of Kuwaitis and third-party nationals who went missing in Iraq after the 1990 invasion of their country and the subsequent Persian Gulf War.

The 15-member body agreed that "those responsible for these horrendous crimes should be brought to justice," the Council President for December, Algerian Ambassador Abdallah Baali, said in a statement to the press following a briefing from Yuli Vorontsov, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's High-Level Coordinator on the issue.

The Council also expressed continuing concern for the plight of the families of missing persons whose whereabouts are still unknown.

In his latest report, the subject of today's briefing, Mr. Annan noted that 346 bodies out of the 605 missing people had so far found, of which 209 had been identified. "It is apparent now that they had been executed," he said. "The perpetrators of these horrendous crimes should be brought to justice."

The Council welcomed the recent statement by the Iraqi Minister for Human Rights, Bahtiar Amin, reaffirming his country's commitment to "work together with all parties concerned in clarifying the fate of all missing persons, regardless of their nationality."

It also welcomed the recent return of Kuwaiti property and voiced the hope that the Iraqi Interim Government would continue with this "constructive approach" that would lead to the return of all remaining Kuwaiti property as soon as possible.

Finally, it welcomed Iraq's invitation to Mr. Vorontsov to visit the country in order to advance his work.