‘Kuwait will continue hunt for missing martyrs in Iraq’
Fate of POWs unknown: Al-Otaibi
NEW YORK, Feb 14, (KUNA): A senior Kuwaiti diplomat affirmed that his country will continue the search for its missing martyrs in Iraq, praising the efforts of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in keeping this file on its agenda.
The remarks were made by Kuwait’s Permanent Representative at the UN Ambassador Mansour AlOtaibi, during the UNSC’s session on Iraq late Wednesday.
The ambassador also applauded the UN’s resolutions connected with the liberation of Kuwait from the Iraqi Invasion in 1991.
Meanwhile, Al-Otaibi hailed the efforts of the UN’s mission in Iraq to achieve sustainable development in the country and meet the humanitarian needs of people.
It is Kuwait’s responsibility as a neighboring country to aid Iraq in overcoming hardships and security challenges, the Kuwaiti diplomat said.
It is also the responsibility of the international community to cooperate in leading the country towards stability and security, he added.
In this context, Al-Otaibi mentioned the initiative of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah to host the Kuwait international conference for reconstruction of Iraq in February 2018.
Speaking on the missing Kuwaitis in Iraq, the ambassador noted that this session comes in time of the 28th anniversary of Kuwait’s Liberation Day.
He added that the fate of our missing POWs in Iraq is still unknown and the bodies of our martyrs are still missing.
He also noted the Iraqi cooperation in the matter, that led to identifying the remains of 236 out of 605 missing Kuwaitis. However, no new bodies had been identified since 2004, he added.
Al-Otaibi called on the UN mission in Iraq to continue searching for the missing Kuwaitis and follow on procedures taken for Iraq to return Kuwait’s stolen properties and national documents.
Moreover, he affirmed Kuwait’s full support to Iraq in rebuilding the country, which was torn by the war with the so-called Islamic State (IS) in the past few years.