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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Iraq
Index
The border with Iran has been a continuing source of conflict
and was partially responsible for the outbreak in 1980 of the
present war. The terms of a treaty negotiated in 1937 under
British auspices provided that in one area of the Shatt al Arab
the boundary would be at the low water mark on the Iranian side.
Iran subsequently insisted that the 1937 treaty was imposed on it
by "British imperialist pressures," and that the proper boundary
throughout the Shatt was the thalweg. The matter came to a head
in 1969 when Iraq, in effect, told the Iranian government that
the Shatt was an integral part of Iraqi territory and that the
waterway might be closed to Iranian shipping.
Through Algerian mediation, Iran and Iraq agreed in March
1975 to normalize their relations, and three months later they
signed a treaty known as the Algiers Accord. The document defined
the common border all along the Shatt estuary as the thalweg. To
compensate Iraq for the loss of what formerly had been regarded
as its territory, pockets of territory along the mountain border
in the central sector of its common boundary with Iran were
assigned to it. Nonetheless, in September 1980 Iraq went to war
with Iran, citing among other complaints the fact that Iran had
not turned over to it the land specified in the Algiers Accord.
This problem has subsequently proved to be a stumbling block to a
negotiated settlement of the ongoing conflict.
In 1988 the boundary with Kuwait was another outstanding
problem. It was fixed in a 1913 treaty between the Ottoman Empire
and British officials acting on behalf of Kuwait's ruling family,
which in 1899 had ceded control over foreign affairs to Britain.
The boundary was accepted by Iraq when it became independent in
1932, but in the 1960s and again in the mid-1970s, the Iraqi
government advanced a claim to parts of Kuwait.
Kuwait made several representations to the Iraqis
during the war to fix the border once and for all but Baghdad has
repeatedly demurred, claiming that the issue is a potentially
divisive one that could enflame nationalist sentiment inside
Iraq. Hence in 1988 it was likely that a solution would have to
wait until the war ended.
In 1922 British officials concluded the Treaty of Mohammara
with Abd al Aziz ibn Abd ar Rahman Al Saud, who in 1932 formed
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The treaty provided the basic
agreement for the boundary between the eventually independent
nations. Also in 1922 the two parties agreed to the creation of
the diamond-shaped Neutral Zone of approximately 7,500 square
kilometers adjacent to the western tip of Kuwait in which neither
Iraq nor Saudi Arabia would build permanent dwellings or
installations (see ______). Beduins from either country could
utilize the limited water and seasonal grazing resources of the
zone. In April 1975, an agreement signed in Baghdad fixed the
borders of the countries. Despite a rumored agreement providing
for the formal division of the Iraq-Saudi Arabia Neutral Zone, as
of early 1988 such a document had not been published. Instead,
Saudi Arabia was continuing to control oil wells in the offshore
Neutral Zone and had been allocating proceeds from Neutral Zone
oil sales to Iraq as a war payment.
Data as of May 1988
Boundaries
The border with Iran has been a continuing source of conflict
and was partially responsible for the outbreak in 1980 of the
present war. The terms of a treaty negotiated in 1937 under
British auspices provided that in one area of the Shatt al Arab
the boundary would be at the low water mark on the Iranian side.
Iran subsequently insisted that the 1937 treaty was imposed on it
by "British imperialist pressures," and that the proper boundary
throughout the Shatt was the thalweg. The matter came to a head
in 1969 when Iraq, in effect, told the Iranian government that
the Shatt was an integral part of Iraqi territory and that the
waterway might be closed to Iranian shipping.
Through Algerian mediation, Iran and Iraq agreed in March
1975 to normalize their relations, and three months later they
signed a treaty known as the Algiers Accord. The document defined
the common border all along the Shatt estuary as the thalweg. To
compensate Iraq for the loss of what formerly had been regarded
as its territory, pockets of territory along the mountain border
in the central sector of its common boundary with Iran were
assigned to it. Nonetheless, in September 1980 Iraq went to war
with Iran, citing among other complaints the fact that Iran had
not turned over to it the land specified in the Algiers Accord.
This problem has subsequently proved to be a stumbling block to a
negotiated settlement of the ongoing conflict.
In 1988 the boundary with Kuwait was another outstanding
problem. It was fixed in a 1913 treaty between the Ottoman Empire
and British officials acting on behalf of Kuwait's ruling family,
which in 1899 had ceded control over foreign affairs to Britain.
The boundary was accepted by Iraq when it became independent in
1932, but in the 1960s and again in the mid-1970s, the Iraqi
government advanced a claim to parts of Kuwait.
Kuwait made several representations to the Iraqis
during the war to fix the border once and for all but Baghdad has
repeatedly demurred, claiming that the issue is a potentially
divisive one that could enflame nationalist sentiment inside
Iraq. Hence in 1988 it was likely that a solution would have to
wait until the war ended.
In 1922 British officials concluded the Treaty of Mohammara
with Abd al Aziz ibn Abd ar Rahman Al Saud, who in 1932 formed
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The treaty provided the basic
agreement for the boundary between the eventually independent
nations. Also in 1922 the two parties agreed to the creation of
the diamond-shaped Neutral Zone of approximately 7,500 square
kilometers adjacent to the western tip of Kuwait in which neither
Iraq nor Saudi Arabia would build permanent dwellings or
installations (see ______). Beduins from either country could
utilize the limited water and seasonal grazing resources of the
zone. In April 1975, an agreement signed in Baghdad fixed the
borders of the countries. Despite a rumored agreement providing
for the formal division of the Iraq-Saudi Arabia Neutral Zone, as
of early 1988 such a document had not been published. Instead,
Saudi Arabia was continuing to control oil wells in the offshore
Neutral Zone and had been allocating proceeds from Neutral Zone
oil sales to Iraq as a war payment.
Data as of May 1988
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