On December 17, 1991, the General Assembly of the United  Nations voted on a resolution
demanding that Iraq release all Kuwaiti and third country POWs, and provide information on 
all past or present detainees living, dead, and released. The resolution was passed 155-1,
wiith no abstentions, and only Iraq voting against the motion. No detainees were released.
From October 16-17, the Tripartite Committee was established with representatives from 
United States, the United Kingdom, France, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the International 
Committee of the Red Cross, and Iraq. The members of this committee met officially in 
Geneva, Switzerland. The express purpose was to discuss and resolved the POW issue
as per UN Resolution 686 and 687. This was the first series of schedule meetings. For 
reasons known only to themselves, the Iraqis boycotted some of the meetings. In September 
1994, at long last and for no apparent reason, Iraq did admit to having information about 45 
Kuwaiti prisoners. This was a complete about-face, and a virtual admission that all of their 
statements about the prisoners over the previous three and half years had been lies. 
Subsequently, three more statements have been released, bringing the total number of
prisoners they admit to holding as 126.

As a result, the Technical Sub-Committee was then formed by the Tripartite Committee to
continue talks between Iraq and Kuwait regarding the POW conflict. This sub-committee
was established on December 1994 and until today a total of eight meetings were held.
The sub-committee gets reviewed by the Tripartite Committee every six months and is r
enewed based on the results of the meetings. Four of the eight meetings were held in Geneva, 
Switzerland, and the other four meetings were held on the Kuwaiti-Iraqi borders. Following 
meetings are to be held on a monthly basis on the Kuwaiti-Iraqi border.

Even this cannot be regarded as real progress. Although the Iraqis admit that they took these
126 people to Iraq, they now claim that they "lost track" of them during the confusion and
uprising in Iraq during the Desert Storm campaign. They proclaim to be "searching for them" 
now, four and half years late! And what of the 483 prisoners still completely unaccounted for ?


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