Kuwait’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Ahmed Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, has criticized the recent Iraqi ruling concerning the regulation of navigation in Khor Abdullah, stating that it contains “historical fallacies.” He emphasized the need for the Iraqi government to take concrete, decisive, and urgent actions to address these concerns.
These remarks were made during a meeting between Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmed Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and his Iraqi counterpart, Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani, on the sidelines of the seventy-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Tensions between Kuwait and Iraq have heightened following a ruling by the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court, which declared that the Iraqi Parliament’s approval of the agreement governing navigation in the Khor Abdullah waterway between the two nations was unconstitutional. The court argued that international treaties and agreements should be ratified by a two-thirds majority vote in the House of Representatives. Notably, this agreement had been signed in 2012 and ratified by both countries’ parliaments in 2013.
Kuwait’s Prime Minister also called for a comprehensive demarcation of the maritime borders between Kuwait and Iraq, aligning with international laws and conventions. This call mirrors a similar request made by the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and the United States.
Kuwait’s Prime Minister Criticizes Iraq’s Khor Abdullah Ruling
It’s worth noting that while the United Nations had delineated the land borders between Kuwait and Iraq in 1993, following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the demarcation did not encompass their entire maritime boundaries. This maritime border issue remains unresolved between the two oil-producing nations.
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