Prisoners and Kuwaiti security debated by al-Shahin, Vedrine

Kuwaiti Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Suleiman Majid al-Shahin has handed over French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine on Tuesday evening in Paris a message from Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad connected to Kuwait's security, the Kuwaiti prisoners in Iraq and the Gulf war compensation fund.

Well-informed French sources said the content of the message revealed the importance placed by Kuwait on the question of the prisoners and its call for Iraq's cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross, adding that Kuwait intends to set up a post for a coordinator for the file of Kuwaiti missing and prisoners.

Concerning Kuwait, the message stressed that the embargo cannot be lifted from Iraq without assurances that Iraq has honored all UN Security Council resolutions.

The French view was that the most important way of ensuring the security of Kuwait is not through perpetuating the UN embargo on Iraq, but to prevent Iraq from rearming itself and using its oil revenues for this purpose.

The sources added that compensation for the Gulf War have reached the phase of compensating countries, after the previous phase was dedicated to compensating individuals.

The Kuwait minister left Paris heading for Kiev and Moscow.