KRG calls for Dutch effort on genocide

ERBIL, Iraq, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- The Kurdistan Regional Government called on the Dutch and Iraqi governments to remedy the effects of chemical-weapon attacks against the Kurds in the 1980s.

The Iraqi military, operating allegedly under the direction of "Chemical" Ali al-Majid, used chemical weapons to quell a Kurdish uprising in 1988, killing an estimated 180,000 civilians and guerrillas.

In an open letter to the Dutch and Iraqi governments, the KRG slammed the Netherlands for selling chemical weapons to Iraq even after U.N. weapons inspectors in 1996 revealed the atrocities in the Kurdish region.

The KRG called on the Dutch government specifically to investigate companies that sold chemical weapons to Iraq, take part in the reconstruction of medical effects of the atrocities and apologize to the Kurdish people.

The Dutch government should also officially recognize the attacks against the Kurds as genocide.

The Iraqi government should also move on a May decision to "seriously pursue, identify and bring to justice all the companies that sold weapons of mass destruction to Iraq," the KRG said.