MPs slam Khor Abdullah ruling

By B Izzak

KUWAIT: Thirty-two MPs on Wednesday issued a statement in which they criticized a ruling by Iraq’s supreme federal court in declaring as unconstitutional a navigation agreement between Iraq and Kuwait on Khor Abdullah waterway. The Kuwaiti lawmakers also called on parliaments of friendly and sisterly countries to support Kuwait and its rights in the Khor Abdullah agreement.

“The aggressive behavior that led to the Khor Abdullah agreement being annulled by the Iraqi federal court puts all agreements at risk. It contradicts international laws, conventions and international organizations that seek to resolve conflicts,” the statement said. Kuwait and Iraq signed the agreement in 2012 regulating navigation in the narrow waterway which is located between Kuwait’s Boubiyan and Warba islands and Iraq’s Faw Island.

The agreement was signed under a United Nations resolution calling to divide the waterway equally between the two countries. The agreement was ratified by Kuwaiti and Iraqi parliaments in 2013, but in September the Iraqi federal court ruled that the ratification by Iraqi parliament was unconstitutional because it was not done with a two-third majority as required by the constitution.

Kuwait responded angrily at the Iraqi action, insisting that the ruling defied international law and risked other agreements between the two countries. The statement of the Kuwaiti lawmakers insisted that the Khor Abdullah agreement was signed more than 10 years ago, ratified by the Iraqi parliament and later confirmed by the Iraqi federal court and was placed at the United Nations.

“Challenges of foreign issues are addressed through government-parliament coordination and harmony which succeeds in containing conflicts, as we had previously done on several issues,” MP Marzouq Al-Ghanem said on his X account. In his speech at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly on Sept 21, HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Nawaf Al-Sabah affirmed that Kuwait considered the agreement to regulate navigation in Khor Abdullah waterway valid and in full force.

“Kuwait will consider the agreement to regulate navigation in Khor Abdullah waterway and the security swap protocol effective because of their importance in maintaining security and safety of navigation,” he said. Kuwait’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Salem Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah had also denounced in the strongest terms the Iraqi ruling.

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