Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 4, 1991 TAG: 9103040130
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The Associated Press/ and The New York Times
DATELINE: BAGHDAD, IRAQ LENGTH: Long
Baghdad Radio announced that Iraq accepted a U.N. Security Council resolution passed Saturday that permanent cease-fire. Allied and Iraqi military leaders, meanwhile, meeting at a captured air base near the southern Iraqi town of Safwan, agreed on details of the truce, including the prompt return of all prisoners and Kuwaiti civilian detainees.
"I would say very candidly that the Iraqis came to discuss and to cooperate, with a very positive attitude," said the allied coalition commander, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf. If that attitude continues, he said, "we are well on our way to a lasting peace."
Baghdad Radio, monitored in Nicosia, Cyprus, quoted a letter sent by Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz to the United Nations saying that Baghdad had accepted Resolution 686.
"We hope that the U.N. Security Council will deal with our meeting of these obligations, which we will do sincerely and as soon as possible, objectively and honorably and in keeping with the provisions of international law and the rules of justice and fair play," the letter said.
The resolution retains the economic and arms embargo and demands that Baghdad pay reparations. It also orders Iraq to free war prisoners and captured civilians, return stolen property, rescind its annexation of Kuwait and identify the location of mines and booby traps in Kuwait.
On Sunday, the U.N. Security Council was considering easing the economic embargo to allow mercy flights of food, medicine and fuel to the war-ravaged country.
On Sunday night, Iraq's chief delegate to the United Nations, Abdul Amir Anbari, told reporters in New York that his government had already released 10 prisoners of war as "a gesture of good will." He said six Americans were among them, including a woman, presumably Spec. Melissa Rathbun-Nealy, a 20-year-old soldier, from Grand Rapids, Mich., the only woman known missing.
But the Iraqi representative did not say where the 10 were freed, and senior allied officials here said they had not been notified of any release.
American officers said they were astonished that the Iraqi delegates at Safwan had agreed so quickly to allied terms, especially since President Saddam Hussein has always been reluctant to cede authority to anyone to enter into agreements on his behalf.
But they said that they expected no trouble and declared themselves convinced the delegates spoke for the Iraqi leader.
In Baghdad, official broadcasts failed to mention the truce talks, focusing instead on plans to reopen public schools, restore electrical power during nighttime hours, and resume television programs. Baghdad radio said that Saddam had presided late Saturday night at a meeting to discuss such efforts - his first known activity since the cease-fire.
A thunderous explosion shook the Iraqi capital on Sunday afternoon, reports from Baghdad said, lifting a mushroom-shaped column of smoke visible 15 miles away. It was apparently an accidental detonation of a bomb.
The words "surrender" and "capitulation" were carefully avoided by the coalition forces' military leaders in describing Sunday's session with the Iraqis, led by two lieutenant generals, but that was what the meeting amounted to. According to allied officials, the Iraqis seemed quite prepared to concede defeat, in contrast to assertions by political leaders in Baghdad of a moral victory.
The Iraqis also agreed to supply details on any individuals who died in their custody and to return any remains. Schwarzkopf did not indicate whether the Iraqis acknowledged any deaths or remains in their custody.
In addition, the Iraqi officers agreed to an arrangement that will separate the forces in southern Iraq to avoid further skirmishes.
Schwarzkopf did not refer to other demands made by the allies and described in U.N. resolutions. He said the two sides were prepared to meet again, but that no meeting had been scheduled.
The International Red Cross chief representative in Baghdad said Sunday that Iraqi officials were ready to start the repatriation of POWs according to details worked out in the meeting.
However, Andreas Wigger said the Iraqis still have not given the Red Cross access to the prisoners or to Kuwaiti nationals reportedly held by Iraq.
Iraq has not told the Red Cross how many prisoners it holds and has not acknowledged holding any Kuwaitis prisoner. Kuwait has accused Iraq of detaining some 30,000 Kuwaitis since the Aug. 2 invasion.
Baghdad Radio reported earlier that Saddam led two meetings to discuss rebuilding the nation. At sunset, he read from the Koran, Islam's holy book, at a martyrs' monument and at the tomb of a former defense minister.
The radio said Saddam met Saturday night with his information minister and deputy chief of staff to discuss restoring nationwide television and radio service.
The radio also said Saddam held a meeting of the ruling Revolutionary Command Council and the Baath Party Regional Command late Sunday to discuss "the latest developments in the political situation" and the restoration of basic public services. No other details of that meeting were provided.
Saddam has not addressed the nation since Tuesday, two days before the allies declared a conditional cease-fire. Allied officials have said his whereabouts are not known.
In Kuwait City, Kuwaiti and U.S. troops are using a combination of loudspeakers and guns to flush Iraqi soldiers and their supporters out of hiding in this shattered city, a process that will take days, officers said.
"This city is by no means secure. It will be another five or six days before we can say that," said one U.S. Special Forces officer advising the Kuwaiti military.
Most Iraqi soldiers surrendered peacefully, but a few put up resistance.
As the officer spoke, automatic weapons sounded from an apartment building in the Hallawi district where one Iraqi and two Palestinians were holed up.
"They were firing out of the apartment, so we went in and took them out," a Kuwaiti officer, Maj. Khalid Khaleel, said afterward.
The military - alerted to the Iraqis' whereabouts by neighbors - is also driving trucks mounted with loudspeakers through the city, telling Iraqis and Palestinians that they will be treated well if they surrender.
More than 40 holdouts emerged from Hallawi on Sunday, including 10 Iraqi soldiers. Officers said more came out of other neighborhoods, but they were not sure of exact numbers.
Kuwaiti officers said Iraqi soldiers were being found as far down as Wafra, near the Saudi border.
Gangs of young resistance fighters still roam the streets in convoys of battered vehicles, many brandishing weapons and firing into the air in celebration of Kuwait's liberation from Iraq.
by CNB