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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

Welcome to the Neno's Place!

Neno's Place Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality


Neno

I can be reached by phone or text 8am-7pm cst 972-768-9772 or, once joining the board I can be reached by a (PM) Private Message.

Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

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    Border disputes between Iraq and Kuwait return to the forefront and "options" to resolve them

    Rocky
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    Border disputes between Iraq and Kuwait return to the forefront and "options" to resolve them Empty Border disputes between Iraq and Kuwait return to the forefront and "options" to resolve them

    Post by Rocky Today at 4:36 am

    Border disputes between Iraq and Kuwait return to the forefront and "options" to resolve them

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    Baghdad Today - Follow-up
    Border disputes between Iraq and Kuwait have returned to the spotlight after both parties issued statements in recent weeks indicating the importance of resolving outstanding issues and adhering to joint agreements, while politicians and observers described some of the decisions imposed on Iraq as “unfair” and stated that resolving the issue depends on both parties’ commitment to constitutions and international law.
    In Iraq, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein announced the imminent start of negotiations between the two countries to resolve the “pending files.” 
    This came during his meeting in Washington, Thursday, with the US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Barbara Leaf, as Hussein indicated that "dialogues are the right way to solve problems," according to a statement by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.
    On the other hand, the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and the United States stressed the importance of "Iraq's commitment to Kuwait's sovereignty and territorial integrity and respect for international agreements and United Nations resolutions, especially Security Council Resolution No. 833 regarding the demarcation of the borders between Kuwait and Iraq."
    In a statement issued after their meeting in New York on September 25, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings, the ministers called on the Iraqi government “to ensure that the Kuwait-Iraq agreement to regulate maritime navigation in Khor Abdullah remains in effect.”
    Khor Abdullah Agreement...the root of the problem
    In January 2013, the Iraqi Council of Ministers approved an agreement with Kuwait regulating maritime navigation in Khor Abdullah, which overlooks the Gulf waters. The Iraqi Council of Representatives ratified the agreement later that year, officially entering into force.
    After a decade, the Federal Court in Iraq decided that the agreement was unconstitutional and justified its decision “for violating the provisions of Article (61/Fourth) of the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq, which stipulated that the process of ratifying international treaties and agreements is regulated by a law enacted by a two-thirds majority of the members of the Council of Representatives.”
    The Iraqi court's decision brought back to the forefront the border problems between Baghdad and Kuwait, which the two countries had recently pledged to overcome, after the gradual improvement in relations over the past years.
    Member of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Iraqi Parliament, MP Muthanna Amin, summarized the most prominent pending files between Iraq and Kuwait, including the return of the remains of Kuwaiti prisoners and the return of antiquities and possessions that were “taken from Kuwait” during the Iraqi invasion of the Gulf state, according to his expression.
    The head of the Kuwaiti Association of Families of Martyrs, Prisoners and Missing Persons, Fayez Al-Enezi, had explained in an interview with the local newspaper Al-Anbaa last August that Kuwait had been able to return the remains of 294 people from Iraq, while 311 people were still missing, including people of non-Kuwaiti nationalities.
    Maritime Navigation.. A "Complex" File Between Kuwait and Iraq
    The most important file for the member of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Iraqi Parliament, MP Muthanna Amin, is the issue of regulating maritime navigation. He says that this file is complex and contains problems, especially because of the rejection of some Iraqi parties of some of the conditions imposed on their country as a result of its being subject to Chapter VII sanctions following its invasion of Kuwait in 1990, according to his expression.
    Amin said that the issue of territorial waters and freedom of movement in them is very important for Iraq, and called for the necessity of "reconsidering the navigation agreements between the two countries so that they do not negatively affect Iraq's ports and limit their role," as he put it.
    A member of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Iraqi Council of Representatives also pointed out that many Iraqis believe that their country has been imposed with decisions that he described as "unfair" and that they are demanding that they be reconsidered. He pointed out that "solving the problem of regulating maritime navigation and demarcating the borders between the two countries requires flexibility between the two parties."
    Amin also said that Iraqi-Kuwaiti relations have witnessed a noticeable improvement in the recent period, especially after the Security Council officially closed, in February 2022, the Kuwait compensation file after Iraq paid $52.4 billion, according to his expression.
    Amin explained that Iraq was removed from the scope of Chapter VII procedures of the UN Security Council after paying Kuwait's compensation, and that Iraq was transferred from Chapter VII to Chapter VI to resolve the remaining outstanding issues with Kuwait.
    According to the United Nations, Chapter VI is concerned with “pacific settlement of disputes” and deals with “the practice of the Security Council in promoting and implementing recommendations, methods or procedures for the pacific settlement of disputes within the framework of Articles 33-38 of Chapter VI and Articles 11 and 99 of the Charter of the United Nations. In general, Chapter VI contains various provisions under which the Security Council may make recommendations to the parties to a dispute or to the parties to a situation.”
    The Khor Abdullah Agreement and its legal and constitutional consequences
    The agreement stipulates that the waters of Khor Abdullah be divided equally between the two countries, based on UN Security Council Resolution 833 issued in 1993, which redrawn the borders following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. 
    Iraqis object to this agreement because they believe that it gives Kuwait the right to territorial waters deep inside Iraq, which hinders the movement of maritime trade in front of the country's limited ports.
    Legal expert Dr. Adnan Al-Sharifi said in a statement that all decisions of the Federal Court in Iraq are binding according to the principle of “international supremacy of constitutions” and that the court relied on Article 61 of the Iraqi Constitution when it decided that this agreement was unconstitutional, noting that this step is part of an “international custom” regarding the role of judicial bodies in monitoring laws and treaties.
    Al-Sharifi added that the Iraqi constitution stipulated that when ratifying treaties and agreements, two-thirds of the members of the Iraqi parliament must be present, “and this did not happen in the 2013 session to vote on the agreement.” 
    Iraq and Kuwait now have two paths, the legal expert says. The first is for the Iraqi parliament to revote on the agreement by a two-thirds majority so that it becomes effective and binding. However, if the parliament refuses to vote on the agreement, which is the second scenario, then Kuwait can resort to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
    Al-Sharifi explained that the 2013 agreement "was concluded without consulting all Iraqi parties, and many of them believe that the agreement in its current form does not protect Iraq's interests," adding that the option before Kuwait now is to renegotiate to reach a new agreement that satisfies both parties and protects their rights in accordance with international standards and laws.
    The legal expert denied the possibility of Iraq being subject to any measures against it due to its rejection of the current agreement, but he pointed out the consequences that the country would face if Kuwait filed a case in the International Court and won it but Iraq refused to abide by it, "In this case only will Iraq be subject to international sanctions."
    Al-Sharifi explains Article 14 of the Khor Abdullah Agreement, which clearly states that “the two parties must first resolve the dispute amicably, and if agreement fails, the dispute shall be referred to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, whose decisions will be binding on both parties.” 
    He added that based on the terms of the current agreement, Kuwait must first resolve this issue through negotiation and a friendly solution, but "Kuwait's resort to statements of condemnation, denunciation and escalation is a clear violation of the terms of the agreement," according to his expression.
    In a televised interview, former Kuwaiti Minister of Information, Sami Al-Nisf, said, “Kuwait has confirmed more than once that the issue is ‘Iraqi-Iraqi,’ and has no objection if the Iraqi government returns this agreement to parliament for re-ratification.”
    Al-Nusf pointed out that "any other move or procedure will be evidence of the existence of parties trying to 'plant mines' in the relations between the two countries, and Iraq will be the one most affected if this agreement is rejected, because Kuwait is located within an integrated Gulf system and it is in Iraq's interest to strengthen its relations with these countries."
    Regarding the objection of Iraqi parties to the agreement, which they said violates Iraq's right to navigation, the former Kuwaiti minister added that this is not true, "as evidenced by the fact that Iraq is now building one of the largest ports in the region. The Iraqi port of Faw is larger than all of Kuwait's ports combined, and therefore there is no 'strangulation' of Iraq in maritime navigation. Iraq also has other ports on the Gulf, such as the ports of Umm Qasr and Zubair." 
    He stated that "Historically, Kuwait has helped Iraq in maritime navigation. Kuwaiti ports are what supported Iraq during the war with Iran, which forced Iraq at that time to close all its ports," he said.
    Source: Alhurra
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