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A view of the Umm Qasr port on the Khor Abdullah estuary, Iraq. Posted Jan. 18, 2016.(photo byFacebook/sdct1980)

Author:Sara al-Qaher Posted February 7, 2017

BAGHDAD Iraq is fighting a tide of dissent as itslawmakersaccusethe government of handing over the Khor Abdullah border canal to Kuwait in an agreement concluded by the countries joint committees.

TranslatorMohammad Khalil

TheCabinet's decisionsparked outrage Jan. 26, with some parliament membersand Cabinet sources claiming the move was part of a secret deal by which Iraq handed over Khor Abdullah as a gift to Kuwait, resulting in a crisis that government clarifications have failed toend.

An estuary, Khor Abdullah is at the northern end of the Persian Gulf off the shores of the Kuwaiti islands of Bubiyan and Warbah and the Iraqi Al-Faw peninsula,extending to Khor al-Zubair in Umm Qasr port.

Disagreement over the rights to Bubiyanwere a major reason Iraq invaded Kuwait.

Following Iraqi President Saddam Husseins invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the UN Security Council in May 1993 adopted Resolution 833, demarcating the Iraq-Kuwait borders. A committee was formed of experts from 16 countries, including someformer Soviet republics, the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Venezuela, Pakistan and Morocco. The committeewas charged with technical implementation of border demarcation between Iraq and Kuwait.

According to UN documents, thatcommittee concluded that Khor Abdullah was a vital canal for both countries. Then ajoint committee was formed to draft a bilateral agreement on the organization of navigation, and in 2013 the Iraqi Cabinet ratified the agreement and delivered it to the UN.

Over the past few years, Iraqi parliamentarianshave strongly contested the Baghdad governments approval of the agreement, which officially recognizesKuwaits right to establish Mubarak Al Kabeer port within the area shared by both nations, thus narrowing the ports on the Iraqi side.

Theres a secret deal between the Iraqi and Kuwaiti governments concerning Khor Abdullah. The clarifications offered by the Iraqi government in this regard are not persuasive, parliament member Aaliyah Nasif of the State of Law Coalition told Al-Monitor. She maintains Khor Abdullah was not included in Resolution 833, in legal or geographic terms.

According to Nasif, former foreign affairs and transportation ministers, as well as otherformer Cabinet members whom she refused to name, received bribes from the Kuwaiti government in return for ratifying the 2013 agreement.

Opponents of the deal contend thatceding Iraqs right to Khor Abdullah compromisesIraqi sovereignty.

Meanwhile, Kuwaiti Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Khalid Al-Jarallah said in a news conference that his country did not encroach on a "single inch" of Iraqi territory.He condemned theaccusations, sayingthere had been no new developments or changes regarding the maritime border issue.

However, Dhafer al-Ajami,executive director ofGulf Monitoring Groupand a Kuwaiti national,told NRT News that Khor Abdullah and Umm Qasr belong to Kuwait, arguing that Khor Abdullahwas named after Sheikh Abdullah Bin Sabah of Kuwait, who died in 1813.

Some Iraqi officials blame former Prime MinisterNouri al-Malikis Cabinet, which they saysurrenderedIraqi territory to Kuwait.

Former Basra province parliament member Wael Abdul-Latif told Al-Monitor, Malikis Cabinet made a mistake on three occasions. First, the former Cabinet accepted demarcation according to the [Security Council] resolution, handing over regional water and land in addition to the Umm Qasr port city."

Second, he said, Iraq's government went along with Kuwait's plans to build theMubarak Al Kabeer porton the disputed Bubiyan Island, impeding Iraq's access and forcing it to use the Kuwaiti port.

"The third mistake was the agreement signed by the former transportation ministerdividing Khor Abdullah into two and narrowing Iraqi waterways adjacent to Iran and Kuwait," Abdul-Latif said, adding that heplansto file a lawsuit in maritime court disputing the legality of the Mubarak Al Kabeer port and the Khor Abdullah agreement.

As theagreement continues to fuelcontroversy, some maritime experts offered a different opinion thanthat of the politicians. One of those experts, Alaa Badran,told Al-Monitorthe agreement does not impedeIraq, since itdemarcates maritime borders so that navigation functions properly. Badran issecretary of the Marshes Committee ofthe Basra Provincial Council.

He further said that only part of the border adjacent to Umm Qasr and Bubiyan Island was takenunder the agreement, adding that Kuwait took a "taluk" line similar to that of Iran's, and therefore the agreement does not affect the Iraqi side. "Taluk" is an Iraqi maritime term referring to the centerline in the main waterway available for maritime navigation at the point where the water level starts to decrease upon reaching land borders.

The Iraqi parliament'sForeign Relations Committee is seeking to resolve the situation to everyone's satisfaction. Committee memberMithal al-Allusi told Al-Monitor that Iraq maintains good relations with Kuwait, but Iraqis discontent with the governments decisions could harm these relations in the future.Whenonecountry controls the lands and ports of another, he added, peace is unlikely.

Many observers believe Prime Minister Haider al-Abadis Cabinet will probably make the same mistake made during Malikis rule: ceding the maritime canal to Kuwait to preserve diplomatic relations and achieve short-term interestsat the expense of an angry Iraqi public.

Read More: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/02/khor-abdullah-iraq-kuwait-persian-gulf.html

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Controversial canal again sparks dispute in Iraq - Al-Monitor