Pay back time of $416 million to Kuwait victims of Iraqi invasion

The body set up by the United Nations to compensate victims of Iraq's occupation of Kuwait said on October 1st that it expects to pay 416 million US dollars to 166,458 successful claimants next week.

This means UNCC expects to transfer the money to governments of successful claimants on October 8. Government distribution of funds to the claimants will come at a later stage.

The awards will go to successful claimants in categories "A" (person who were forced to leave Iraq or Kuwait during the occupation ) and "C" (individual losses less than $100,000 US).

Kuwait's share of this second installment amounts to $105.1 million US dollars.

A senior Kuwaiti compensation official welcomed news of the imminent transfer for the second installment, saying this was a step in the right direction. Kuwait suffered the largest amount of losses as a result of the occupation, amounting to more than $200 billion US in compensation claims, Kuwait has a share of some $120 billion US.

The first installment of category "A" and "C" was paid out in March and amounted to $156 million US. The council has so far approved over $6 billion US in awards, but has been unable to pay the amounts due to a lack of funds.

The governing Council of the UN Commission (UNCC) endorsed proposals made by UNCC's executive secretary for a work program covering the period 1997 to 2003.