A meeting between officials from Iraq and Kuwait to discuss the disappearance of hundreds of people during the Gulf crisis of l990-91 has been postponed indefinitely because the Iraqis declined to attend.

An official of the International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC, Bernard Pfefferle, told the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA, he was trying to find out why Iraq was staying away.Officials from both countries meet regularly at the border under Red Cross auspices.

About six hundred Kuwaitis and other residents of the country are reported to have disappeared during the Iraqi occupation.