U.N. Says Iraq Must Pay : France Shuts Its Embassy in Kuwait

The U.N. Security Council today adopted a resolution holding Iraq responsible for war damages and asking states to document financial losses and mistreatment of civilians arising from Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait.

The vote was 13 in favor and none against, with abstentions by Cuba and Yemen.

The draft was sponsored by Britain, Canada, Finland, France, Romania, the United States, the Soviet Union and Zaire.

The resolution, which touches on various aspects of the Iraqi occupation, also demands an end to all hostage-taking and a halt to the destruction of property by Iraqi forces in Kuwait. It says Baghdad must resupply foreigners and the few embassies operating in Kuwait with adequate food and water.

Also today, France ordered its diplomats to quit their besieged embassy in Kuwait and return home with 300 French hostages being freed by Iraq.

That left just two embassies defying Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s order to close--the United States and the British.

The U.N. vote had been scheduled for Saturday, but in a last-minute turnaround, the Soviet Union asked the council for a postponement in the hope that talks in Baghdad between Soviet envoy Yevgeny Primakov and Iraqi leaders would lead to a peaceful solution of the crisis.

But Primakov left Baghdad early today empty-handed after failing to persuade Hussein to compromise on Kuwait. However, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, speaking in Paris, held out hopes Iraq may yet be willing to give ground in the Persian Gulf.

The new resolution sets up a mechanism that would make Iraq liable for financial damages caused by its invasion of Kuwait by “inviting” all states to document their economic losses.

According to Council President David Hannay of Britain, states will begin “systematically drawing up the balance sheet” to provide evidence “as and when arrangements are made” in a final settlement of the conflict.

But the resolution does not say how Iraq is to pay for any damage. Suggestions by British officials to compensate states and individuals from Iraq’s assets abroad have been put aside for the time being.

It also asks states to collect evidence on Iraq’s mistreatment of civilians, which some diplomats defined as a first step toward action on war crimes at a later date.

However, several council diplomats admitted this would prove extremely difficult to carry out.

Meanwhile today, hundreds of French citizens left Baghdad on a flight to freedom after three months as hostages of Hussein.

Among the French were the last seven diplomats who endured an arduous siege of their embassy in occupied Kuwait. Also aboard the flight to Paris were nine Greeks, four Britons, two Filipinos, one German and one Spaniard.

The Iraqi Airways jetliner picked up more than 50 French evacuees in Kuwait City in the early afternoon before flying to Baghdad, where hundreds of hostages celebrated with beer and whiskey as the plane landed.

Iraq announced last week that it would allow French hostages to leave. France stressed it had not engaged in negotiations to obtain their release.