U.N. urges Iraq, Kuwait reconciliation

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- The U.N. Security Council called on Iraq and Kuwait to hasten their work on the search for persons and property missing from the first Gulf War.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon discussed the issue of missing Kuwaiti and third-country nationals in a closed-door meeting with his special envoy on the matter, Ambassador Gennady Tarasov.

Iraqi relations with Kuwait have soured over reparations that Baghdad owes its southern neighbor from U.N. Security Council resolutions stemming from the 1990 invasion by Saddam Hussein. Both countries have stalled on work related to missing persons and property related to the war, the United Nations reports.

Though the council noted Iraq's return of some currencies and postage stamps to Kuwait, Ban said additional efforts were needed.

"Progress remains fragile," he said. "The main task of discovering and identifying the victims and, finally, closing their files lies ahead."

Ambassador Le Luong Minh of Vietnam, which holds the Security Council presidency for October, echoed those sentiments, saying there was "limited progress" on the "identification of human remains."

The Security Council also backed Ban's proposal for a "confidence- and cooperation-building period" and the financing of the activities of a high-level coordinator for an additional eight months.