Iraq denies U.S. claim on missing Kuwaitis

BAGHDAD (Reuters) -- Iraq's parliament on Saturday rejected a U.S. claim that Baghdad was still holding Kuwaitis missing since the 1991 Gulf War.

The speaker of parliament, Saadoun Hammadi, said in a letter to the U.S. Congress that Iraq is no longer holding Kuwaitis or anyone else as prisoners of war.

"Iraq had released all Kuwaitis and other prisoners of war under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) after the (Gulf War) cease fire in 1991," Hammadi said in the letter carried by the Iraqi News Agency.

He denied claims that Iraq was impeding the work of a committee formed soon after the Gulf War to discuss the fate of the missing in action.

Kuwait says that about 605 people -- including 550 Kuwaitis -- have been reported missing since the 1990 Iraqi occupation of the emirate.

Baghdad says that Kuwait has withheld information on the fate of 1,150 missing Iraqis.

Iraq has been boycotting a committee determining the fate of the missing, objecting to the participation of the United States, Britain and France.

"Iraq has announced time and again readiness to resume participation in the meetings of the tripartite committee to clarify the fate of missing Kuwaitis, Iraqis and other nationalities on condition the meetings are not attended by countries that have no missing persons," Hammadi said.

The U.N. Security Council says that accounting for the missing is one of the conditions Iraq must meet before it will lift sanctions imposed after its invasion of Kuwait.

Iraq has always maintained its forces took no prisoners from Kuwait when they were forced out by U.S.-led multinational forces.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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