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of the demarcation of the frontier between Iraq and Kuwait. In July 1948 His
Excellency Sayid Jalal Buban, who was then Acting Prime Minister of Iraq,
informed Sir Henry Mack, then His Britannic Majesty’s Ambassador, that the
Iraq Government were about to reopen this whole question with His Britannic
Majesty’s Government. No written communication has been received by His
Britannic Majesty’s Embassy on this subject and the Embassy has accordingly been
instructed to inform the Iraq Government of His Britannic Majesty's Government’s
views on the exact line of the frontier and to make certain proposals about the
demarcation of the frontier.
In his letter No. 2944 of the 21st July, 1932, to the United Kingdom High
Commissioner in Iraq the then Prime Minister of Iraq defined the frontier between
Iraq and Kuwait as follows: —
“ From the intersection of the Wadi cl Audja with the Batin and thence
northwards along the Batin to a point just south of the latitude of Safwan;
thence eastwards passing south of Safwan Wells, Jcbel Sanam and Umm Qasr
leaving them to Iraq and so on to the junction of the Khor Zubair with
the Khor Abdullah. The islands of Warbah, Bubuyan, Maskan (or Mashjan),
Failakah, Auhah, Kubbar, Qaru and Um-el-Maradim appertain to Kuwait.”
His Britannic Majesty’s Government interpret this definition of the frontier as
follows: —
(а) “ Along the Batin ” means that the line of the frontier shall follow the
thalweg, i.e., the line of the deepest depression.
(б) The “ point just south of the latitude of Safwan ” means the point on the
thalweg of the Batin due west of the point 1,000 metres due south
of the customs post at Safwan, i.e., the building which on the
25th June, 1940, was used as the customs post at Safwan.
(c) From the Batin to the neighbourhood of Safwan the frontier shall be the
line along the parallel of latitude between the two points described in
sub-paragraph (b) above.
(<d) The “ junction of the Khor Zubair with the Khor Abdullah ” means the
junction of the thalweg of the Khor Zubair with the thalweg of the
north-westerly arm of the Khor Abdullah known as the Khor Stetana.
(e) From the point 1,000 metres south of the customs post at Safwan the
frontier shall follow the shortest line between that point and the
point defined in sub-paragraph (d) above (the “junction of the Khor
Zubair with the Khor Abdullah *’), but only as far as the spring tide
low-water mark on the right bank of the Khor Zubair.
(/) From the point of the spring tide low-water mark on the right bank of
the Khor Zubair mentioned in the preceding sub-paragraph to the
point on that same low-water mark nearest to the point defined in
sub-paragraph (d) above (the “ junction of the Khor Zubair with the
Khor Abdullah ”) the frontier shall follow the low-water mark.
(g) From the point on the low-water mark on the right bank of the Khor
Zubair nearest to the point defined in sub-paragraph (d) above (the
“ junction of the Khor Zubair with the Khor Abdullah ”) to that point
itself the frontier shall be the shortest line which can be drawn.
(h) From the point defined in sub-paragraph (d) above (the “ junction of the
Khor Zubair with the Khor Abdullah ”) to the open sea the frontier
shall follow, first, the thalweg of the north-westerly arm of the Khor
Abdullah known as the Khor Shetana and then the thalweg of the
Khor Abdullah proper.
His Britannic Majesty’s Embassy have also been instructed to suggest that
the arrangements for the actual demarcation of the frontier should be similar to
those proposed in paragraph 4 of the draft note enclosed in Sir Basil Newton’s
letter No. 487 of the 7lh October, 1940, to the then Iraqi Minister for Foreign
Affairs. These proposals were as follows: —
(a) A Joint Technical Commission shall be set up to—
(i) complete where defective a network of triangulation along the
frontier zone from the intersection of the Wadi al Audja with
the Batin to the western extremity of the land frontier.
(ii) erect frontier pillars which shall be visible one from another along
the whole length of the land frontier and to mark by buoys