ARAB-AFFAIRS - July 25 - Kuwait Offers Conditional Talks To Iraq.

Kuwait's defence minister Shaikh Salem Sabah Al Salem Al Sabah says he is ready for talks with Iraq, in return for the release of Kuwaitis and others whom Kuwait says are still held by Iraq. Shaikh Sabah says: "I have no objections to sitting with the Iraqis on condition they release 10% of prisoners of war and Kuwaiti hostages and others who number more than 600...to end this humanitarian issue". (The announcement comes almost 10 years after Iraq invaded Kuwait and occupied it for 7 months until its forces were driven out by a US-led multinational force. Shaikh Salem heads a state body in charge of seeking the release of 600 people missing since the conflict. Iraq has denied holding the missing people.) Shaikh Salem qualifies his offer of talks by saying: "Kuwait would not accept bilateral talks with Iraq except under the umbrella of allied states" which fought in the Gulf War to drive the Iraqis from Kuwait, adding that Iraq "must release several of our prisoners of war as a goodwill gesture". (Iraq has been boycotting a humanitarian committee trying to determine the fate of the missing.) Shaikh Salem calls on Iraq to attend the meetings sponsored by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to end the "humanitarian tragedy". The UN calls on Baghdad to cooperate with it in trying to determine the fate of the missing. The UN Security Council says that accounting for the missing is one of the conditions Iraq must meet before it will lift sanctions. Baghdad says Kuwait has withheld information on 1,150 missing Iraqis.