Iraq and Kuwait maintain silence after major maritime border deal revoked

The Iraqi and the Kuwaiti governments are yet to announce their official stances to Iraq's top court ruling to revoke a crucial maritime border deal under which both countries share a key waterway into the Gulf.

 On Monday, 4 September, Iraq's Federal Supreme Court annulled law number 42, passed by the Iraqi parliament in 2013, about ratifying a 2012 agreement between the two neighbouring countries on regulating maritime navigation in the Khor Abdullah crucial waterway.

The case was filed by some Iraqi lawmakers last month. The court ruled the deal was "unconstitutional" on the pretext that Iraq's parliament ratified it with a simple majority and should have passed it with a two-thirds majority.

Following the ruling, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and his Kuwaiti counterpart Salem Al-Sabah made a phone call on Tuesday, but with no reference to the court's decision and its ramifications for both states. 

The Iraqi and Kuwaiti governments have not announced their official stances. 

The main issue with the #Khor_Abdullah agreement, in my opinion, is that the @IraqiGovt did not handle it transparently. There were often rumors of undisclosed agreements on a matter that Iraqis view with high sensitivity, especially at a time when public opinion plays a crucial…

— Mohammed Shummary - د.محمد الشمري (@MAShummary) September 4, 2023

On Wednesday, 6 September, several Kuwaiti lawmakers asked the Kuwaiti government to announce its stance on the sensitive issue formally. 

The  Kuwaiti MPs said the court's verdict does not terminate the joint deal between Kuwait and Iraq as it is based on past UN Security Council resolutions. 

On Tuesday, Abdullah Al Mudhaf, head of the Kuwaiti parliament's foreign relations committee, said the committee had formally requested a meeting with Kuwait's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss the decision by Iraq's top court.

Some Iraqi politicians, lawmakers and experts criticized the deal and claimed it removed Khor Abdullah from Iraq's sovereign territory.

Khor Abdullah is Iraq's only waterway to the Gulf, through which Iraq exports most of its oil and importers goods.

There are different interpretations of the court's ruling, which is mandatory for all authorities in Iraq and cannot be upheld.

"Iraq is still responsible in front of Kuwait; either the Iraqi parliament should vote on the annulled law with a two-thirds majority or should compensate Kuwait," Latif Sheikh Mustafa, a constitutional law expert and former Iraqi MP, told The New Arab during a brief phone interview on Tuesday. "If Iraq decides not to abide by the maritime deal, it should shoulder its responsibilities accordingly."

The Iraqi parliament has not yet made any statements on the issue. 

After Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 833 in 1993, determining the land borders between the two countries. Still, the demarcation of the maritime borders was left to the two nations.

The former Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein had accepted the resolution before being toppled by the US and UK-led international coalition in 2003.

After meeting his Kuwaiti counterpart Salem Al-Sabah in Baghdad late in July, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said the two countries will work towards reaching a definitive agreement on demarcating their borders, including joint oil fields. 

The negotiations between the countries have turned into a public opinion issue in Iraq, with many Iraqis accusing top Iraqi officials of "concessions" on Iraq's historical rights in Umm Qasr port city in southern Iraq to Kuwait.