Security Council Demands Iraq Let Foreigners Leave

In an urgent late-night session held at the urging of the United States, the United Nations Security Council on Saturday unanimously approved a resolution demanding that Iraq permit the immediate departure of the thousands of foreigners trapped in Iraq and Kuwait.

The resolution, the fourth aimed at Iraq by the 15-nation body since Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait earlier this month, also demanded that Iraq do nothing to jeopardize the safety or health of the foreigners and that consular officials be allowed to see them.

The Security Council acted on the measure after announcements by the Iraqi government that it was detaining Westerners until the threat of war was over and that those detained, including infants and elderly people, would be denied food and medical supplies unless the United States and its allies lifted its blockade and permitted such items through.

Iraq said that detained Westerners would be kept at key military and civilian installations until the danger of war was over.

“We are dismayed and revolted by these actions,” Thomas R. Pickering, the American ambassador to the United Nations, said in remarks to the Security Council after the 15-to-0 vote was taken. Iraq had “crossed the Rubicon” by daring to take such steps, he added.

Earlier, Pickering accused Iraq of holding thousands of foreigners “hostage,” using a term U.S. officials previously had avoided in referring to those being detained.

About 2,500 Americans and 4,000 Britons are in Kuwait and more than 500 Americans and 700 Britons are in Iraq. In addition, thousands of other foreign nationals have been barred from leaving those two countries since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on Aug. 2.

The latest resolution also reaffirmed a previous resolution declaring Iraq’s annexation of Kuwait as null and void, and it demanded that Iraq rescind its order for the closing of embassies and consulates in Kuwait and for the withdrawal of immunity for diplomatic personnel.

Also, under the resolution, U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar was asked to pursue “urgent consultations” with the Iraqi government to ensure “full and immediate compliance” with the measure.

Perez de Cuellar was on a trip to Latin America but planned to send representatives to Baghdad. They are Undersecretary General Virendra Dayal, an Indian who heads the secretary general’s executive office, and Undersecretary General Kofi Annan, a Ghanaian who is controller in the U.N. program planning, budget and finance office.

Yemen, the only Arab nation sitting on the Security Council, voted for the resolution but urged the lifting of the embargo of foodstuffs to Iraq, contending that this would be not only a humanitarian step but also would lead to a reduction of tensions in the gulf region.

Action on the resolution came after more than four hours of closed-door consultations involving member nations of the Security Council along with representatives of Iraq and Kuwait.