Kuwait says remains of 19 citizens missing since 1990 Iraqi invasion identified

Those abducted during the war were sent to jails in Iraq for refusing to co-operate

Mourners carry the coffins of nineteen Kuwaiti prisoners of war whose remains were recently found in a mass grave in Iraq and identified through DNA tests, during a funeral procession at a cemetery in Kuwait City on November 21. Photo: AFPShow less

Kuwait has informed the UN Security Council that it identified the remains of 19 citizens who were held as prisoners of war or went missing during the 1990 invasion by Iraq.

Thirty-one years ago, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded his Arab Gulf neighbour and was pushed out by a US-led coalition. The war left Iraq in a devastated economic and social state that it has yet to recover from.

Kuwait says about 605 people, mostly its citizens, disappeared from the country during the seven-month occupation and ensuing war.

Over the years, Iraqi authorities have found some of their remains in mass graves across the country.

In March 2020, Kuwait successfully sought UN backing to ask Iraq to take more action to find the graves of the missing, and Wednesday's letter was designed to update the Security Council on progress.

"On November 18 2021, the remains of 19 Kuwaiti martyrs and missing persons were identified according to tests by Kuwait's General Administration of Criminal Evidence," Kuwait's news agency reported.

Kuwaitis captured during the war were sent to jails in Iraq for refusing to co-operate with occupying forces, reports said.

Kuwait's Permanent Representative to the UN, Mansour Al Otaibi, wrote the letter to the UN Security Council explaining that DNA tests were used to confirm the identity of the remains after they were handed back to Kuwait by the Iraqi authorities.

A girl in Kuwaiti national dress looks at pictures of hundreds of people missing since the 1990-1991 Gulf Crisis, on display at a major celebration marking the end of Iraq's occupation of Kuwait, in Kuwait City, in February. Reuters

Portraits of some of more than 600 Kuwaitis who went missing after the invasion by Iraq line the walls of a memorial in Kuwait City. Reuters

Iraqi soldiers ride on top of one of their tanks through the streets of Kuwait City, two days after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, on August 4, 1990. AP

Kuwaiti sisters, from left, Wafa, Latifa and Wadjid hold a photograph in 1999 of their brother Abu Jarrah, one of about 600 prisoners of war taken by Iraq. Reuters

Relatives of Kuwaiti prisoners of war Nasser Al Onezi, Anam Al Aidan and Abdullatif Al Wahib, whose remains were found in a mass grave in southern Iraq, carry their coffins to the cemetery in Kuwait City on July 9, 2003. AFP

Kuwaiti former prisoners of war, from right, Nasser Salmeen, Abdulwahad Al Nafah and Abdullah Al Awadhi show their faces on a picture taken during their captivity in an Iraqi prison. The three were released on March 1991, nearly a month after Kuwait's liberation. AFP

Families bury the coffins of five Kuwaiti prisoners of war, whose remains were found in a mass grave in Iraq and identified through DNA tests, last year. AFP

Relatives carry the coffins of eight Kuwaiti prisoners of war whose remains were found in a mass grave in Iraq, during a funeral procession in Kuwait City on January 13, 2021. AFP

The Kuwaiti prisoners of war "had been arrested during the Iraqi invasion and their remains were included in the batch received in November 2020 as well as January, March and July of 2021," said the letter.

"Extensive efforts were exerted in order to identify the remains in Iraq and an Iraqi technical team was allowed to check the sites under the authorities of the International Committee of the Red Cross," it said.

A funeral was held in mid November in Kuwait for those who had been identified.

Diplomatic ties between the two neighbours were severed after the invasion, but restored after Hussein’s removal from power in 2003.

Since the war ended, Iraq has paid at least $50 billion of the $52bn the UN Compensation Commission ordered in reparations to Kuwait.