KUWAIT: Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah and National Assembly Apeaker Ali Al-Rashed yesterday inspected the borders with Iraq a few days after Iraqi farmers rioted and prevented a United Nations team from completing repairs of border markers. The prime minister was briefed by security officials on the Kuwaiti preparations on the borders in the face of the developments to protect Kuwaiti territory against any violations or aggressions. Earlier this week, several hundred Iraqis pelted rocks at UN workers who were repairing border markers near Umm Qasr. The situation later deteriorated when unidentified people from Iraq fired shots at the Kuwaiti side which also responded with gunshots. No injuries were reported in the fire exchange, but the UN-supervised work on the border markers had to be stopped.
The maintenance of border markers resumed several weeks ago after a halt of several years after Iraq and Kuwait sorted out a number of outstanding issues. Kuwait strongly protested at Iraq and urged Baghdad to shoulder its responsibilities in preventing such violence in the future, and also sent another protest to the United Nations. Sheikh Jaber said Kuwait hopes that Iraq will perform its duties with regard to the incident, but insisted that the relations between the two nations are "much bigger" than being affected by some individuals. Speaker Rashed also hoped that such actions on the borders will not be repeated because this will help develop the relations between the two countries and help Iraq come out from Chapter 7 obligations. Head of the Assembly foreign relations committee MP Saleh Ashour said that the committee has invited Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al- Sabah for a meeting next week to discuss the developments on the border. Ashour said the Iraqi side should shoulder its political and security responsibilities to maintain security at the borders because this reflects positively on bilateral relations.
The lawmaker said that three border markers have not been repaired and the Iraqi side must provide the necessary protection to the UN team to complete its mission which is based on UN Security Council resolutions. In another development, Rashed said that the issue of the much publicized KD 1,000 grant to Kuwaiti citizens is "in the hands of His Highness the Amir who can better assess the matter". Several MPs have said that Kuwaitis who will not benefit from the debt relief scheme will be given a grant of KD 1,000.
© Kuwait Times 2013
