(MENAFN- Arab Times) Iraq on Friday reiterated its keenness to close the file of the Kuwaiti missing persons and property, and reaffirmed its support for one of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's proposals to assign a representative from the UN Secretariat to take over the responsibilities of the High-Level Coordinator Gennady Tarasov who left his post in late December for another UN job in Geneva.
In a letter to the Security Council President, Iraqi Ambassador Hamid Al-Bayati said "on the basis of the positive developments in Iraqi-Kuwaiti relations and the sustained fulfilment by Iraq of its (UN) obligations ..., the most recent being the arrival of the (Iraqi) technical representatives in Kuwait to join the UN in initiating the third stage of the Iraq-Kuwait boundary maintenance project on Dec 17, the government of Iraq reaffirms its commitment to continue the search for missing Kuwaitis and its keenness to resolve this humanitarian and emotional issue, which is of great importance to Kuwaiti families."
He insisted that his government "reaffirms its support for (Ban)'s proposal that the file of Kuwaiti missing persons and property be ... managed by a bilateral joint committee or by a representative of the Secretary General assigned to that purpose."
"My government reiterates that such a step would facilitate the closing of this file," he added.
As Tarasov's mandate ended on Dec 31, 2012, Ban suggested to the Council for consideration a number of options to make sure those humanitarian issues are taken care of during the next six months.
Based on his consultations in both Kuwait and Iraq early last month, Ban suggested in his report to the Council folding Tarasov's mandate under that of the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), appoint an interim Coordinator during the next six months, replace the current Coordinator, or asking someone from UN Secretariat to assume this mandate.
The Council is still consulting on which option to approve. While the Western countries in the Council prefer that an official from the UN Secretariat takes care of the issues, Russia prefers the appointment of an interim High-Level Coordinator.
Diplomats told KUNA that given the fact that no decision was made so far, the Secretary General may end up appointing a successor to Tarasov until those humanitarian issues are resolved, as required by resolution 1284 which established the post.
According to Ban, Kuwait had expressed hope that the Council would establish a new mechanism either through the appointment of a new High-Level Coordinator; the appointment of a new Special Envoy; or the expansion of the UNAMI mandate to include those issues, but only after Iraq fulfils its other outstanding obligations, specifically those related to the border.
Also according to Ban, Iraq prefers not to have a new High-Level Coordinator, and wants to address the issues bilaterally with Kuwait, and, if need be, would not object to folding the files into UNAMI's mandate.
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