Iraq is ready to cooperate over the missing

Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahaf has expressed his country's readiness to work with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in order to learn the fate of hundreds of missing since the Gulf War in 1991.

In a statement issued in the United Arab Emirates daily al-Bayan on Sunday, al-Sahaf, currently visiting Qatar, said that a team including Iraqi and Saudi experts may start work shortly in order to return the remains of an Saudi pilot who was buried in an Iraqi minefield after his plane was downed in 1991.

Al-Sahaf added that Iraq may shortly start a sort of cooperation with Saudi Arabia.

He continued that Iraq informed Saudi Arabia through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that it had found the ruins of the Saudi plane in 1991 and that the Iraqi army officer who had buried the Saudi pilot told the Iraqi authorities about the information he had in this respect.

Al- Sahaf added that the Iraqi army officer had endangered his life and entered the mined area once again to show the place where the Saudi pilot was buried.

Al-Sahaf stated that Iraq does not keep any prisoner from Kuwait or from other nationalities. He indicated that the Kuwaitis deny that there are 1,500 Iraqis who are missing in Kuwait, and therefore, his country calls for joint cooperation between it, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia under the supervision of the ICRC and in line with UN Security Council resolution 687 in order to learn about the fate of all missing among the Iraqis, Saudis and Kuwaitis.

But the Iraqi minister stated that Baghdad refuses the participation of each of Britain, the US and France in this issue, saying that the fate of missing persons from these countries has been settled and that the three countries have political inclinations behind their participation in the talks.