Kuwait accuses Iraq of flaring tensions on border issue

Kuwait’s Deputy Foreign Minister has accused Iraq of instigating a debate on the current border crisis between the two countries, the New Khaleej reported on Tuesday. Khalid Al-Jarallah said that Kuwait is seeking to demarcate the maritime border with Iraq because his government believes that the Iraqi description of the Khor Abdullah waterway as a full border agreement is not accurate.

“The two countries said they were committed to the agreement governing the maritime relations between them on the basis of United Nations resolutions, in particular Resolution 833, and facilitating the passage of ships and traffic flow in the channel,” explained Al-Jarallah.

Resolution 833 was issued by the UN Security Council in 1993, three years after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 1990, which lasted six months.

READ: Iraq and‌ ‌Kuwait‌ ‌are at‌ ‌loggerheads‌ ‌over‌ ‌conflicting‌ maritime border ‌claims‌

Al-Jarallah said that his country is looking at the Iraqi complaint about the issue which was filed at the UN Security Council, as a note requesting clarification about the issue. In its response to the Iraqi complaint, Kuwait sent a detailed letter to the Security Council explaining what has passed recently between the two countries.

Kuwait’s building of a land reclamation platform in the area of Fisht Al-Eij recently prompted a protest from Baghdad. The Kuwaitis argued that building in the area is a sovereign right because it is located in their territorial waters.

Fisht Al-Eij is a small area of water between Iraq and Kuwait. According to the latter, it is part of Kuwait’s territorial waters, but Iraq insists that it is a border area.

READ: ‘This is our sovereign right’, says Kuwait officially to Iraq