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1*01 ITK’AI. M-VKI.OPMF.NT IN KUWAIT 33!
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his visit to Kuwait on 8 April, the Iraqi Foreign Minister stated that
their discussions with the Kuwaitis were conducted with complete :
frankness, and that they agreed to leave the door open for the
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continuation of the discussions on the settlement of the dispute
between their countries.1 As stated by The Economist. “the
demarcation of this [Kuwail-Iraq] border is nothing like a small
affair for Iraq".2
It is quite clear now that, unlike the Kuwaitis, the Iraqis do not
seem to look at their border dispute with Kuwait as a purely
technical matter of adjusting their land boundary line. To the Iraqis,
there is more to it. Politically, the Iraqi Government, which during
the reign of Abd al-Karim Qasim erected the Arabian Gulf port of j
Umm Qasr, enhanced the policy of making Iraq a real Gulf State,
having a direct access to the Gulf waters through the new port of
Umm Qasr. The direct berthing facilities of the Arabian Gulf which
Umm Qasr offers to Iraq today, have greatly reduced Iraq’s reliance
on her traditional port of Basra, which is separated from the Gulf
sea by the whole length of Shatt al-Arab waterway.
The political aspect of the question appears to have complicated
the final settlement of the border dispute. The Economist, which
says that the border question “involves an explosive mixture of
idealogy and oil", analyses the situation by stating: .
:
■
■‘True to the Iraqi Ba’thist tradition of acting first and explaining later, the
Iraqi foreign minister has now declared that Iraq must be a Gulf state. This
means that it must have a longer coastline, which in turn means that it wants (
to take over the two Kuwaiti islands of Bubiyan and Warbah”.
The Economist goes on to explain Iraq’s reasons for controlling :
the two islands:
“Iraq is determined to control the outlets for oil exports from its rich and
expanding north Rumaila field. These now go through the narrow gullets of
Fao, and also through the small port of Umm Qasr, on a tidal estuary
commanded by the two Kuwaiti islands. If Iraq won control of these
mudflats, not only would its access to Umm Qasr be more secure, it could
then also build a deep water terminal off the shore of Bubiyan’’.3
:•
During his discussion in Kuwait, the Iraqi Foreign Minister,
repeatedly, renewed Iraq’s claim to the two islands of Bubiyan and ■ r :
Warbah and the coastal belt facing them on the ground that this
coastal area belongs to Iraq. As expected, of course, the Kuwaiti :
Foreign Minister rejected the Iraqi claim to the said islands which he
regards as purely Kuwaiti islands. The Kuwaiti Foreign Minister i
1. Ibid; Al-Hayat (Beirut), 8 April 1973.
2. The Economist (London), 7 April 1973.
3. Ibid.