Anger has spread across Iraq over the government’s apparent agreement to concede ownership of the Khor Abdullah waterway to Kuwait
“We were stunned to see the Kuwaiti flag fluttering in the creek of our waterway,” a shipping agent in Basra said, referring to the port that separates Iraq from its southern neighbour.
The sighting two weeks ago coincided with the leaking of documents that critics say effectively bestow the rights of Iraq’s Khor Abdullah waterway on Kuwait.
Iraq’s prime minister, Haidar al-Abadi, has defended the move with reference to a maritime deal approved under former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki four years ago.
But Abadi’s seal of approval has done little to stem the rising tide of anger in his country.
In response to mass public demonstrations in southern Iraq, Kuwait’s national assembly announced a closed session to revisit the dispute on 14 February.
Under Maliki, a string of bilateral agreements with Kuwait regulated use of the border canal.
What these deals do not outline or sanction, however, is the transfer of Khor Abdullah.
Civil society figures and politicians have blamed not just Maliki but also Abadi for endorsing a deal still veiled in secrecy.
A former marine pilot from Basra, who spoke to Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity, described the deal as “treasonous” and lacking “legitimacy in the form of popular consent, paperwork, and judicial oversight”.
“Those responsible for the 2013 maritime deal are suddenly silent,” he said.
What is Khor Abdullah?
With the exception of a small stretch of disputed land in its south, Iraq is a landlocked country bordering Kuwait to the west and Iran to its east.
Khor Abdullah is a narrow channel that separates Iraq from Kuwait.
At the head of the channel is the Iraqi dry cargo port Umm Qasr, which is Iraq’s only entrance to the Gulf.
Khor Abdullah separates Kuwait from the more well-known Shatt al-Arab, a river that lies between Iraq and Iran.
The Shatt al-Arab is formed by the convergence of Iraq’s Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It acts as a river boundary separating Iraq and Iran, much like Khor Abdullah separates Iraq and Kuwait.
Disputed ownership of the Shatt al-Arab, known as the Arvand Rud in Iran, was a frequent cause of dispute between Iraq and Iran and a key battleground in the war between the two countries from 1980 to 1988, showing the importance Iraq attaches to its access to the sea.
The current disagreement, however, is over Khor Abdullah. The border channel has been in dispute since the early days of modern-day Iraq and Kuwait, states whose boundaries were determined on various occasions by the British Empire.
As Iraq’s only entrance to the Gulf from Umm Qasr, Britain – and the Ottomans before them – recognised Khor Abdullah as part of Iraq’s territorial waters.
Today it serves as Iraq’s maritime lifeline, handling 80 percent of its national imports.
‘This will be a very hot potato’
In an interview with MEE, maritime specialist and international lawyer Pierre-Emmanuel Dupont spoke of the complexities of demarcating the frontier.
“The separating line is yet to be physically marked, illustrated or cartographically represented in contemporary maps,” he said.
“Legally speaking, the dispute is not subject to maritime laws or international laws of the sea,” he said. “As an estuary, it falls under the jurisdiction of the state.”
After Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, the estuary “fell under the mandate of the United Nations, under Resolution 833,” Dupont said.
A UN official quoted by the Times at the time said “this will be a very hot potato… It could lay the ground for more conflict,” adding that “Iraq’s access to the Gulf could well end up depending on Kuwaiti magnanimity”.
In 1993, the Security Council appointed a UN commission with the task of redrawing the boundaries of the countries, but its work was undermined by accusations that it had overstepped its mandate.
In recent years the dispute has played itself out in port construction, with both states racing to build rival megaports.
Kuwait has succeeded in constructing the $1.6bn port of Mubarak, while endemic corruption has stalled Iraq’s $4bn Fao project.
Iraq unites – against Baghdad
Bubbling tensions reached boiling point last week during a parliamentary session that split Iraqi MPs into two opposing camps.
During a vote to ratify the handover of Khor Abdullah, Iraqi lawmakers blasted Abadi’s government for yielding Iraq’s sovereignty.
In a recent interview with Iraqi TV, former judge and independent Shia politician Wael Abdel Latif al-Fadel said the decision violated the rights of Iraqis who “for the last 70 years have been responsible for modernising the port, its use and navigation, monitoring offshore drilling and environmental protection.”
The interview took place on the NRT news channel, which has ties to the Kurdish Regional Government.
Hanan Fatlawi, an MP from the pro-Maliki State of Law Coalition, also rebuked Abadi in a news conference for failing to protect Iraq’s “existing and future generations”.
“Khor Abdullah – no different to any inch of Iraqi territory – is not state property to be gifted,” she said.
The State of Law Coalition is the largest bloc in the Iraqi parliament, but is not part of Abadi’s government.
The hashtag “Khor Abdullah is Iraqi” went viral on Iraqi social media as citizens joined in on the snowballing campaign.
Qais al-Khazali, commander of the Shia militia Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, even joined in on the campaign.
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