The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
hostilities.
The statement made clear that if Iraq informed the UN of its
acceptance
before noon
on 23 February, the coalition would not launch a ground
offensive.
Iraq rejected
that final deadline.
20.
On 23 and
24 February, a massive coalition land operation began in
Kuwait.
On the
morning of 26 February, Saddam Hussein claimed in a broadcast
that he had
ordered his
forces to withdraw from Kuwait. The broadcast also claimed victory
and
asserted
Iraq’s continued claim on Kuwait. Coalition leaders responded by
repeating
that Iraq
must accept unconditionally all UN resolutions, release all
prisoners of war
and
detainees, and end the destruction of Kuwait. The coalition also
made clear that
unarmed
Iraqi soldiers would not be attacked but that, to ensure the safety
of allied
troops,
forces retreating with their weapons would continue to be treated
as hostile.
Iraqi units
moving north with their equipment were attacked from the air during
the
night of
26/27 February.
21.
By the night
of 27/28 February, Kuwait had been liberated. After consulting
coalition
partners,
President George HW Bush announced a suspension of hostilities, to
take
effect from
midnight on 27 February. As a result, a number of elite Iraqi
fighting units
returned to
Iraq intact.
22.
On
2 March, the Security Council adopted resolution 686 (1991).
It affirmed that the
12
preceding resolutions, including the application of sanctions,
continued to have effect,
and set out
a number of demands including: acceptance of the preceding
resolutions;
military
conditions for the cessation of hostile activities; the release of
all Kuwaiti and
“third-State
nationals” detained by Iraq or the release of the remains of any
deceased
personnel;
the release of prisoners of war; and the payment of reparations. It
stated that
the
authority to use force in resolution 678 remained valid during the
period required for
Iraq to
comply with those demands. The meeting between coalition and Iraqi
military
commanders
to agree the military conditions for the cease-fire took place at
Safwan, on
the
Iraq-Kuwait border, the following day.
23.
Resolution 687
(1991) was adopted on 3 April, by 12 votes to one (Cuba);
Ecuador
and Yemen
abstained. Its preambular paragraphs:
•
recalled
and affirmed the 13 previous Security Council
resolutions;
•
affirmed
the commitment of all Member States to the sovereignty,
territorial
integrity
and political independence of Kuwait and Iraq;
•
recalled
its objective of the establishment of a nuclear weapons-free zone
in the
region of
the Middle East;
•
reiterated
its objective of restoring international peace and security in the
area; and
•
set out the
need to take the measures specified, acting under Chapter VII of
the
UN Charter.
28