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Iraq could help partly restore its credibility by accounting for people missing since the 1991 Gulf War, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday.
In a report to the U.N. Security Council issued Tuesday, Annan said Iraq has not fulfilled its promise given at an Arab summit in Beirut in March on resolving the issue of civilians taken hostage in the invasion of Kuwait.
"Iraq's words on the fate of the missing persons are yet to be matched by tangible deeds," the report said. "There has not been much progress on the repatriation of all Kuwaiti and third country nationals or their remains."
Iraq refused to cooperate with U.N. officials, he said.
Annan urged Iraq "to use this opportunity to restore its credibility on the outstanding humanitarian issues."
Iraq claims that it has repatriated all prisoners and property taken during the invasion, but Annan has said there are some 600 Kuwaiti families still awaiting word of loved ones who have not been heard from since the war.
(China Daily August 21, 2002)
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