Coll 30/23 'Persian Gulf. Koweit: Status. Position vis a vis Iraq and Ibn Saud. Boundaries of Koweit' [‎283r] (566/695)

-a§ they had no present use tor the wireless buildings erected on those lands, J>esp-from r.c ;) Iraq, to
to the use of the buildings in question by the Sheikh of Koweit as a 2 L ’
quarantine station for the town. The High Commissioner for Iraq reported
in August 1922 that this decision had been communicated to and accepted
by the Sheikh. There have been no further echoes of this question since
/*\ that date.. It should be noted, however, that while the lease has been
terminated, the Agreement does not appear to have been abrogated, and
that the reciprocal pledges exchanged on its conclusion in 1907 presumably,
therefore, remain binding in so far as they are not affected by other
subsequent instruments.
Oil in Koweit.
29. In concluding the review of the more important post-war internal
developments in Koweit, reference may conveniently be made to the
question of oil. The Sheikh bad agreed in 1913 fsee para. 10 above) not
to grant an oil concession without the approval of His Majesty’s Government.
Here, as in Bahrein, the question of obtaining a concession w'as revived by
the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1921, and His Majesty’s Government,
vdio were anxious to facilitate the establishment by the Company of control
over the oil resources of the north Arabian coast, agreed to the institution of
negotiations, which w^ere conducted through the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . Lengthy negotiations have, however, so far proved unfruitful.
(The general question of oil in the Gulf is dealt with in the Board of Trade
Memorandum on page
External Questions, 1919-28.
(1) Relations with Ibn Saud.
(a) Koweit-Nejd-Iraq Boundary Question.
30. Owing to the non-ratification of the Anglo-Turkish Convention of
29th July 1913, the boundaries of Koweit had, as explained above, been left
in suspense on the outbreak of the War. Clause 6 of the Treaty concluded
with Ibn Saud on the 20th December 1915, provided that the limits of
Koweit territory should thereafter be determined. The question remained
in a fluid state until the end of the War.
31. In January 1919, on Sheikh Salim proposing to build a fort at Major More’s Memo.
Dauhat Balbul, just north of Jabal Manifa, Ibn Saud took exception, claiming P- 2417 ' 28 -
that the site in question lay wdthin his territory. No overt act followed, but
* relations on this subject became increasingly strained, customs difficulties—
the Sheikh having placed an embargo on exports to Ibn Sand’s ports* — * Letter from ibn Saud to
further aggravating the situation. Matters culminated in the surprise and p h 6924 / 2 o m, Jane21 1920 ’
defeat by Akhwan under Faisal-aJ-Dawish of the Koweit tribesmen, under
Sheikh Dhaij, w r ho had been sent by Sheikh Salim to contest Akhwan
occupancy of Jariyah, at Hamdeh, near Jariyah, on the 18th April 1920, from p. 6317 / 20 .
which point the friction between the Sheikh of Koweit and Ibn Saud became
acute. The situation v'as briefly,*]' that the Sheikh claimed on his southern t Cp. tel. from c.c.,
frontier the boundaries represented by the green line in the map attached to 10003, S 1020 / n L ’
draft Anglo-Turkish Convention, which represented the area administered by p - 628 i/ 2 o.
his father, Sheikh Mubarak, over the vffiole of which, however, by August
1920 he had no longer effective control. Ibn Saud, on the other hand,
•claimed the southern portion of the area in question by virtue of the fact
that the tribes ordinarily resident therein had since 1914 or thereabouts,
been under his direct control, and not under that of Sheikh Salim or his
predecessor, Sheikh Jabir. 32 * *
32. During the summer of 1920, His Majesty’s Government, with a view
to determining the dispute, on which they had been approached by both
partiesj, authorised Sir Percy Cox, then High Commissioner in Iraq, to
discuss the matter with Ibn Saud and the Sheikh of Koweit. Ibn Saud
formally claimed§ the whole country up to the walls of Koweit, “as in the
time of Colonel Belly,” and maintained that he had no cognisance of the
boundaries of Koweit agreed between us and the Turks in 1913, and that
such an agreement could not in any case be operative against him, especially
ns he had himself recovered the El Hasa province from Turkey before the
^ Tel. from P.A., Koweit,
to H.C., Iraq, 76 C\, Aug. 15
1920 (K.), P. 6924/20; tel.
from C.C., Baglidad, Aug. 19
1920, to S. of S. for I., See.
P. 6281/20.
§ Tel. from P.A., Bahrein,
to Pol. Res., Bushtre, 305 K,
Sept. 17 1920, 1’. 7849/20;
tel. from H.C., Iraq, to
S. of S. fori., Oet. il 1920
B/101, P. 6281/20.
P. 7555/20.