Iraq and Kuwait
The two countries have had a difficult
relationship since the 1950s. Iraq was under a British mandate and received its
independence in 1932 while Kuwait enjoyed British protective status until
independence in 1961.
In that year, which was three years after the collapse of
the Iraqi Hashemite monarchy, Kuwait’s newly acquired independence was
threatened by Iraqi strongman Abd al-Karim Qasim, who claimed its territory as
part of Iraq. These threats prompted British troops to redeploy in Kuwait
temporarily to protect the country’s sovereignty and British interests there.
The United Arab Republic, comprised of Egypt and Syria, also sent troops to
protect Kuwait at the behest of the Arab League and to replace British troops.
Faced with these actions, Qasim eventually backed down from his threats of
annexation.
Kuwaiti leaders have been wary of Iraqi
designs on their oil-rich territory since that time. However, because it saw
Iran as the greater threat, Kuwait aided Iraq during
the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War by providing Baghdad with billions of dollars’
worth of loans. After the conflict ended, Kuwait and other members of the Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC) asked Iraq to pay them back, which led to renewed
tensions with Baghdad.
In 1990, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
accused Kuwait of overproducing to depress oil prices as well as diagonally
drilling for oil into Iraqi territory. This caused a crisis in Iraqi-Kuwaiti
relations as well as in the broader Arab world. Despite mediation attempts by
Egypt and others, Saddam Hussein decided to invade Kuwait that summer and to
incorporate it into Iraq, calling Kuwait Iraq’s “19th province”, and imposing a
brutal occupation on the country.
This invasion then prompted the United States
to send troops—initially a protective force—to Saudi Arabia while it helped to
assemble a large coalition of countries, Arab and non-Arab, to remove Iraqi
troops from Kuwait by force in early 1991 and impose a tight sanctions regime
on Iraq.
Definition of the boundary
The
boundary between what is now Iraq and Kuwait has been defined in four
instruments during the course of the twentieth century.
(i) Anglo-Turlcish Convention, 1913
The
first formal definition of Kuwait’s northern and western boundaries was
contained in the Anglo-Turkish Convention of 29 July 1913 (14), by which the
British and Ottoman Government reached agreement on their respective spheres of
influence in the Arabian Gulf. As part of this agreement, the status of Kuwait
was settled and its boundaries fixed. Kuwait was separated from the adjacent vïlayet
or province of Basra
of the Otto man Empire to the north and west, by two lines.
ii) Exchange, of letters, 1923
After
the defeat and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, it was decided by the
Principal Allied Powers that the Mesopotamian provinces of Baghdad, Mosul and
Basra should form the self-governing State of Iraq, and that Great Britain
should administer it under a League of Nations mandate until it was ready for
independence. Owing to the strength of nationalist sentiment, a mandate
agreement in the usual form, between the League and the mandatory, was not
drawn up. Instead, Great Britain concluded a Treaty of Alliance in 1922 (16)
with the King of Iraq, who had been installed as a constitutional monarch the
previous year. Under this agreement, the British were to provide King Faisal
with advice and assistance in the administration of the country, and had the
right to give binding advice to him on ail important matters affecting the international
and financial obligations and interests of His Britannic Majesty. It did not define
the boundaries of Iraq.
iii) Exchange of letters, 1932
The
mandate for Iraq was terminated on 3 October 1932, Iraq having on the same day
become an independent sovereign State and been admitted to membership of the
League of Nations. Meanwhile, at the instigation and through the intermediary
of the British, an agreement had been reached between Iraq and Kuwait to
reaffirm the existing frontier between the two countries, by means of an
exchange of letters in July and August 1932 bet ween the Iraqi Prime Minister,
Nuri al Sa’id, and the Ruler of Kuwait
(iv) Agreement of 1963
Kuwait
attained full independence on 19 June 1961. Six days later, the Iraqi leader,
General Kassem, claimed sovereignty over the whole of Kuwait. British and Saudi
troops went to Kuwait’s defence, to be replaced shortly afterwards by an Arab
League defence force. Following the overthrow of General Kassem in February
1963 and his replacement by President Aref, relations between Iraq and Kuwait
improved; and, on 4 Oetober 1963, an agreement was entered into by which Iraq,
amongst other things, ’recognized the independence and complete sovereignty of
the state of Kuwait.
Iraq – Kuwait Relations
(Arab Center Washington DC)
Iraq – Kuwait Boundary
(Legal Aspects)
Jorge Emilio Núñez
Twitter: @London1701
20th November 2018
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