Iraq seeks answers from Kuwait about 2,000 missig Iraqis
Iraq’s human rights ministry has asked Kuwaiti authorities to provide answers about the fate of 2,000 Iraqis who have been missing since the 1991 Gulf War.
The missing Iraqis were both civilians and military staff, Kamel Amin, the head of rights protection at the ministry, told Iraqi daily Al Sabah, without giving further details.
His statement prompted mainly angry reactions from Kuwaitis who have been bitter about their neighbour to the north since Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1991. The Iraqi occupiers were expelled by a US-led international coalition in February 1992.
“It is the other way round. They occupied our country and killed our people. We want them to tell us about our brave people who have been missing for two decades,” Proud Kuwaiti, a blogger, wrote.
For Ahmad, the Iraqis as invaders cannot blame for their missing people. “What is bizarre is that they have just woken up to the idea that they had missing people,” he wrote.
Several bloggers said that the Iraqis should instead focus on their missing compatriots in the 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran war during which chemical weapons were used.
However, a few bloggers said that Iraq was right in seeking answers and that it was a good move that showed that they cared about them and wanted to know about their fate.
“They have the right to ask and Kuwait has to show enough compassion to give answers, if possible, at least for the sake of their relatives,” Ali said.
Warqah said that the request was a humanitarian issue and should not be politicized or used to fuel tension between the two countries or in the region.
In his statement on Wednesday, Kamel said that the ministry has been working on determining the status of around one million people who were “victims of the old regime.”
“We have so far this year found 200 corpses of Kuwaiti and other nationals. We want more assistance from international government and non-government agencies and organizations to find out about the fate of all who have been missing,” he said.
