¡¡¡¡KUWAIT CITY, Dec. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Abdelrahman Bin Hamad Al-Atiyya on Sunday dismissed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's speech to the Kuwaiti people as "disappointing," saying the message "reflects no good intentions."

¡¡¡¡In a statement published here, Al-Atiyya noted that Saddam Hussein's speech made no mention of the issue of the prisoners of war (POWs) "which is a GCC, Arab and international priority."

¡¡¡¡He stressed that the speech, read on TV by Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al Sahaf on Saturday night, is "not actually an apology," adding that such a move would deteriorate the escalating situation in the region.

¡¡¡¡He urged Iraq to take steps to release the Kuwaiti POWs, continue the return of looted Kuwaiti properties and implement all of the relevant United Nations resolutions.

¡¡¡¡Kuwait maintains that Iraq is still holding more than 600 Kuwaitis and other countries' nationals who disappeared during Iraq's seven-month occupation of Kuwait.

¡¡¡¡Iraqi officials admitted having hold prisoners before losing track of them during a Shi'ite uprising in southern Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War, which led to the eviction of Iraqi troops out of Kuwait.

¡¡¡¡In his statement Saturday night, Saddam made his first apology to the Kuwaiti people and praised the recent anti-American incidents in Kuwait.

¡¡¡¡He proposed "the devoted and the holy warriors in Kuwait meet with Iraqi counterparts" under their common creator against "infidel armies" of "London, Washington and the Zionist entity."

¡¡¡¡"The GCC refuses all kinds of terrorism and based on that, we refuse incitement that was included in the speech which supports the recent terrorist acts in Kuwait," Al-Atiyya said.

¡¡¡¡The GCC, a regional political and economic alliance established in 1981, groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Enditem