US embassy cable - 04KUWAIT3878

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 003878 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARPI, NEA/I 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/09/2014 
TAGS: PBTS, PREL, PTER, IZ, KU 
SUBJECT: BRITISH WORKING BORDER PROBLEMS WITH KUWAITIS AND 
IRAQIS 
 
REF: A. BAGHDAD 1641 
     B. KUWAIT 2567 
     C. KUWAIT 2548 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1.  (C) Summary/Comment: The British Ambassador has been 
working with the Kuwaitis and UK military elements in 
Southern Iraq over the last two weeks to resolve some border 
complaints made by the Kuwaitis.  The GOK turned to the UK 
Embassy partly because of the presence of UK forces in 
southern Iraq and partly because a UK contractor was 
apparently building a structure in Umm Qasr that the GOK 
considered over the line.  UK embassy Assistant DATT toured 
the border area between Umm Qasr and Abdali to see six 
problematic sites identified by the GOK.  He did not believe 
these constituted violations, but the UK will send an 
engineering team from its forces in Iraq to take a closer 
technical look on Friday, 12 November.  GOK FM also raised 
the border issue with us recently, noting disputes with Iraqi 
farmers along the border, but he raised the issue as an 
alert, not an action request for the USG.  Separately, the 
GOK reported to the British that the Iraqis had proposed in 
the last few days that a joint Iraqi/Kuwaiti commission be 
set up to deal with border management issues.  We will stay 
in touch with the UK mission and the GOK and advise on 
developments.  No action has been requested and we recommend 
no specific USG action while the British sort through the 
claims, and direct Kuwaiti/Iraqi cooperation evolves.   End 
Summary/Comment. 
 
 
GOK Puts the Burden on the UK 
----------------------------- 
 
2. (C) Ambassador LeBaron called on his British counterpart 
on November 10 to discuss problems on the Iraq/Kuwait border. 
 Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Dr. Mohammed Sabah al-Salem 
Al-Sabah had told us during an 8 November meeting that he 
would be meeting separately with the UK Ambassador about 
these issues.  Ambassador Christopher Wilton said the GOK had 
first contacted him about two weeks ago to say that there 
were problems in the Umm Qasr area.  The UK Ambassador had 
been in contact subsequently with a Kuwaiti Colonel in charge 
of the border police in the area, who had told him that 
discussions of this problem had reached high levels of the 
GOK and that there was serious discussion about actions that 
should be taken.  Apparently the problem had been aggravated 
by an Iraqi Brigadier (NFI) on the Iraqi side who had been 
heard to say that the Iraqis were merely taking back land 
that belonged to them anyway.  The UK Ambassador had acted to 
calm the GOK Colonel and UK forces in Iraq had a chat with 
the Iraqi Brigadier, and Gen. Rollo is keeping an eye on the 
situation. 
 
3. (C) The GOK FM met with the UK Ambassador on November 10 
and complained of a UK firm that was constructing a building 
(apparently a customs office) in Umm Qasr that appeared to 
cross the border.  An assistant DATT from the UK Embassy went 
to the border in the company of GOK officials a few days ago 
to view what the GOK officials thought were six problematic 
sites between Umm Qasr and Abdali.  (This appears to be the 
area where all the suspected violations are occurring.)  The 
UK officer found construction right on the border line, but 
he could not verify border violations.  The UK forces in Iraq 
will send engineers with the proper technical tools to take 
another look this Friday.  Most of the problems are in and 
around Umm Qasr, where the UN had built facilities that 
sometimes straddled the border. 
 
Good News from Baghdad 
---------------------- 
 
4. (C) On November 9, the Kuwaiti Under Secretary for Foreign 
Affairs told the UK Ambassador that just in the last few days 
the Kuwaitis had received a proposal from the Iraqi 
authorities calling for establishment of a joint commission 
to deal with border issues.  He said that the GOK would 
respond positively to this suggestion.  He also said that the 
GOK might send a letter to the Security Council noting its 
efforts to build a continuous pipe along the border line to 
more clearly define the line and to prevent vehicles from 
crossing at unauthorized points.  The UK Ambassador cautioned 
against making this a bigger UNSC issue. 
 
 
Different Approach to Us 
------------------------ 
5. (C) At the end of a November 8 meeting between Ambassador 
LeBaron and FM Dr. Mohammed on a variety of issues, the 
latter independently raised the border problem in a different 
way, both identifying different problems than those raised 
with the UK COM and not asking for U.S. action.  He said that 
he was going to see the British Ambassador immediately after 
the meeting, and said that the GOK was "trying to play it 
cool" on this "troublesome" issue.  The problem, he 
explained, was not with the Interim Iraqi Government (IIG) or 
the Iraqi Border Police.  Dr. Mohammed said that his 
discussions with the Iraqi Foreign Minister have been good, 
and that they have worked to set up a joint technical 
committee.  He also  did not mention any of the specific 
allegations previously raised concerning incursions by Iraqi 
Department of Border Enforcement Police (Ref A.)  Dr. 
Mohammed specifically said that he "does not want any action 
yet" (by the USG), but that he "did want to alert us" to the 
situation. 
 
6.  (C) Dr. Mohammed explained that due to repeated earlier 
incursions, some possibly by Iraqi Border Police, some 
possibly by unknown individuals (Refs B and C), the Kuwaiti 
Ministry of Interior decided to build a pipe barrier along 
the border, connecting concrete border marking pillars.  The 
MoI is doing this to keep vehicles from coming across, except 
 at the legitimate border crossings. The teams working on 
this pipe barrier, and other Kuwaiti border-surveying teams 
have been harassed repeatedly by "individuals with AK-47s", 
according to Dr. Mohammed.  Furthermore, the Foreign Minister 
said that contractors hired by the Iraqis to build facilities 
on the Iraq side of the border have crossed over into Kuwait 
repeatedly, and that these contractors include U.K. nationals. 
 
7.  (C) Finally, Dr. Mohammed said that another 
border-related issue involved property claims by Iraqi 
farmers for border-area land that ended up in Kuwait after 
the first Gulf War.  The UN set up a fund to compensate the 
farmers (which has about one million dollars) but Saddam 
Hussein told the farmers not to take the compensation, 
according to Dr. Mohammed.  In addition to drawing from the 
fund, "we're willing to pay Kuwaiti money now to resolve 
these claims." 
 
8.  (C) Baghdad minimize considered. 
LeBaron