Security Council implements resolution 687, monitors Iraqi disarmament, creates compensation fund.

In the aftermath of the Persian Gulf crisis, the Security Council acted to implement its historic resolution 687 (1991), setting detailed conditions for the formal cease-fire ending the hostilities resulting from iraq's occupation of Kuwait.

Among other things, the

* Established on 9 April a UN observer mission (UNIKOM) to monitor the Iraq-Kuwait border;

* Dispatched expert teams in May and June to oversee the transfer and destruction of Iraqi weapons, including chemical, biological and nuclear arms, under the auspices of the Special Commission on Iraqi disarmament;

* Created on 20 May a compensation fund for claims against Iraq resulting from its 2 August 1990 invasion and occupation of Kuwait.

Council resolution 687, the complex, 34-paragraph text laying down specific conditions by which international peace and security was to be restored in the area, was adopted on 3 April, a little over a month after the conflict ended. Iraq officially accepted its terms on 6 April. It was the fourteenth Council resolution in a series of Council actions dealing with the consequences of Kuwait's takeover.

Among other things, the Council called on Iraq to accept a 1963 border agreement with Kuwait, to compensate Kuwait and other countries for damage arising from the seven-month occupation, and to relinquish or destroy weapons of mass destruction.

Arms embargo

The Council on 17 June, in unanimously adopting resolution 699 (1991), decided that the full cost of the destruction of proscribed weapons within Iraq, as outlined in resolution 687, should be borne by Iraq. The Secretary-General was to recommend, the Council said, the most effective means by which Iraq might meet those obligations. Maximum assistance, in cash and in kind, was asked from all Member States, to ensure fast and effective destruction of those weapons.

The items proscribed include: chemical and biological weapons; ballistic missiles with a range greater than 150 kilometres; and nuclear weapons or nuclear-weapons-usable material. The Council also decided that all States should continue to prevent the sale or supply to Iraq of all forms of conventional weapons and military equipment.

Also proscribed are: research, development, support and manufacturing facilities for those items; repair and production facilities for ballistic missiles concerned; technology under licensing used in the production, utilization or stockpiling of proscribed items; and personnel or materials for training or technical support services.

Also on 17 June, in resolution 700 (1991), the Council approved a set of guidelines to facilitate full international implementation of the arms embargo provisions of resolution 687. The Council's Sanctions Committee was to monitor the arms embargo and report to the Council every three months.

In a report to the Council (S/22660), the Secretary-Gencral recommended that international organizations take appropriate steps to assist in ensuring full compliance with the arms embargo.

Iraqi disarmament

The Secretary-General, in line with resolution 687, in April established a 21-member Special Commission on Iraqi disarmament.

Specifically, in paragraph 9(b), the Council had called for: "immediate on-site inspection of Iraq's biological, chemical and missile capabilities"; the yielding to the Commission by Iraq of the weapons specified "for destruction, removal or rendering harmless", and destruction by Iraq, under Commission supervision, of all its missile capabilities, including launchers; and provision by the Commission of assistance to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the removal of Iraq's nuclear-weapons-usable materials.

On 22 April, Rolf Ekeus of Sweden was named Executive Chairman of the Special Commission. Robert L. Gallucci of the United States was appointed Deputy Executive Chairman.

Other members are from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, Finland, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, japan, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, United Kingdom, USSR and Venezuela.

The body deals with issues related to biological and chemical weapons, ballistic missiles, nuclear-weapons...