Iraq: Compliance, Sanctions, and U.S. Policy
zone in January 1993 (and other incidents), a 908-member Bengali troop contingent
supplements the observer group. Kuwait furnishes two-thirds of UNIKOM’s $51 million
annual budget. In FY2000, the United States contributed about $4.5 million to UNIKOM.
Return of Kuwaiti Missing Persons and Property
Security Council Resolutions 686 and 687 require Iraq to account for Kuwaiti and other
nationals detained in Iraq during the Persian Gulf crisis. Of an initial 628 Kuwaiti cases, 608
are unresolved (ICRC figure as of May 2000), as are the cases of an additional 17 Saudi
nationals. Iraq has admitted to having arrested and detained 126 Kuwaitis, but did not
provide enough information to resolve their fate. Only three cases have been resolved since
1995. Since January 1995, Iraq and Kuwait were meeting every month on the Iraq-Kuwait
border, along with U.S., British, French, and Saudi representatives, but Iraq has boycotted
the meetings since Operation Desert Fox. In February 2000, retired Russian diplomat Yuli
Vorontsov was appointed to a new post (created by Resolution 1284) of U.N. coordinator
on the issue of missing Kuwaiti persons and unreturned property. Iraq has not yet allowed
him to visit Iraq, and in April, June, and August 2000, as well as in March, April, and June
2001, the Security Council has issued statements of concern about the lack of progress. The
U.N. Secretary General’s August 15, 2001 report on the issue said Iraq continued to be
uncooperative. In March 2002, Iraq informally offered to receive a U.S. team to discuss the
case of missing American serviceman from the Gulf war, Navy pilot Michael Speicher.
U.N. Security Council Resolutions 686 and 687 require Iraq to return all property seized
from Kuwait. In the first few years after the cease-fire, Iraq returned some Kuwaiti civilian
and military equipment, including U.S.-made Improved Hawk air defense missiles, and a June
2000 Secretary General report and a June 19, 2000 Security Council statement did note that
Iraq had returned “a substantial amount of property.” However, since 1994, U.S. officials
have accused Iraq of returning to Kuwait some captured Iranian equipment that was never
part of Kuwait’s arsenal and of using Kuwaiti missiles and armored personnel carriers during
Iraq’s October 1994 troop move toward the Kuwait border. The United Nations and Kuwait
say Iraq has not returned extensive Kuwaiti state archives and museum pieces, as well as
military equipment including eight Mirage F-1 aircraft, 245 Russian-made fighting vehicles,
90 M113 armored personnel carriers, one Hawk battery, 3,750 Tow anti-tank missiles, and
675 Russian-made surface-to-air missile batteries. Iraq claims the materiel was left behind or
destroyed when Iraq evacuated Kuwait. In the March 7 talks with U.N. Secretary General
Annan, Iraq pledged to return some historical property to Kuwait.
Reparations Payments
The U.N. Security Council has set up a mechanism for compensating the victims of
Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait (individuals, governments, and corporations), using 25% (reduced
from 305 in December 2000) of the proceeds from Iraqi oil sales. As of March 13, 2002, of
a total asserted value of $320 billion claims submitted, the Compensation Commission
(UNCC) has thus far approved claims worth about $37.7 billion. Following a July 2001
payout of about $500 million, which included a $74 million payment to Israel for Iraq’s Gulf
war Scud attacks, the UNCC has paid out about $12.7 billion. The Commission has paid
some corporate and governmental claims. In September 2000, the UNCC governing council
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