Coll 30/23 'Persian Gulf. Koweit: Status. Position vis a vis Iraq and Ibn Saud. Boundaries of Koweit' [‎301r] (602/695)

CONFIDENTIAL.
Letter from Tiib Hon’ble the Political Resi
dent in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , No. 21—S., dated
/ *''** * * * § *v he 13th Deckaber 1927.
I have the honour to forward for the inform
ation of the Government of India a copy of a
n te on the Principality of Kuwait at the end
of the year 1927, which I had instructed Major
J. C. More, D S. O., the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , to
draw upT The details o ,; the tribes make clear
the situation with Ibn Sa ; ud on the ; Iraq
frontier.
The principality of Kuwait is an independent
Arab state under a virtual British Protection.
It has a distinctive flag of its own : red, with
the word “Kuwait'" in Arabic characters in
white across it.
Boundaries :—The question of the status and
territory of the Shaikh of Kuwait was the sub
ject of negotiations between His Majesty's
Government and the Sublime Porte in 1913,* as
a result of which the Anglo-Turkish Agreement
of 29th July 1913,t was signed—but never rati
fied. Be this agreement the autonomy of the
Shaikh of Kuwait was recognised in an a”ea,
the boundary of which formed a semi-circle with
the t wn of Kuwait as centre and the Khaur
az-Zubair on its radius to the north and Qurain
to the south, together with the Islands of
Warbah, Bubiyan, Maskan Failakah, ’ Auhah,
Kubbar, Qaru, Maqta’ and Umm al-Maradim,
and their adjacent islets. It was further recog
nised that the Shaikh of Kuwait was the Tribal
over-lord, and entitled to levy tribute, within
a larger area, the boundary of which started
from the south side of the Khaur az-Zubair at
its junction with the Khaur ' Abdullah and
passed just to the south of Umm Qusr, Safwan
and Jabal Sanam and on to the Batin ; it then
turned south-west and followed the Batin to
Hafar al-Batin; it then turned south-east, and
included the wells of Safah, QPrah, Habah and
Wabrah, and the village of Antab and joined
the sea at Jabal Manifah. This Anglo-Turkish
Agreement, however, as stated above was never
r.iiified.
During the rule of Shaikh Salim, the ques
tion of the boundary between his territory and that
of Ibn Sa’ud became very scute, and resulted
in the surprise and defeat of the Kuwait tribes
men at Hamdh near Jaryah.J or Chryah as it
should really be pronounced, in April 1920, and
the battle of Jahrah in Oct ber of the same year.
The question first arose in January 1919, when
Shaikh Salim wanted to build a fort at Dauhat
Balbul, just north of Jabal Manifah, to which
Ibn Sa’ud objected, and clumed that it was
within his territory. Nothing happened until
April 1920, when Ibn Shuqair started to build
the Ikhwan village of Jaryah, but from then
■onwards the relations between Shaikh Salim and
* Secret External, December 1913, Nos. 1—245.
+ Ibid.
^Enclosure to Serial No. 2 in File 387—X of 1923.
Ibn Sa’ud went from bad to worse. During
the summer o 1920, both parties applied for
British arbitration, and both were asked to state
exactly what territory they claimed. Ibn Sa’ud*
replied that he claimed the whole country up to
the walls of Kuw r ait; and Shaikh Salim claimed
a frontier similar to the enter line of the Anglo-
Turkish Agreement. Ti.e High Commissioner
for Iraq then invited Ibn Sa’ud to Basrah
with a view to settling the dispute, but Ibn Sa’ud
replied that he was ucatle to come at the time,
lu January 1921, the Shaikh of Mubammarah
offered to send his son Shaikh Cl adb, accom
panied by Shaikh Ahmad al-Jab : r ]of Kuwait,
to Najd, to try and arrange a truce between Ibn
Sa ud and Shaikh Salim. His ofLr was accept
ed, and the mission left for Bahrain en route for
Najd in February, and reached Ibn Sa’ud’s camp
to the north of Riyadh < n the 2nd Marih. Two
days later the news of Shaikh Salim’s death
reached them, and Ibn Sa’udf at once said that
there was no longer any quarrel to settle, or any
need for a boundary between his territory and
that of Kuwait. Ibn Sa’ud hadj already been
told that His Majesty’s Government recognised
the territory within the inner boundary of the
Ang'o-Turkish Agreement as definitely belonging
to Kuwait. Nothing more happened regarding
the frontier until November 1922,§ when at a
Conference held at ’ Uqair between Sir Percy
Cox and Ibn Sa’ud, at which the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency.
was also present, the question of a frontier bet
ween Kuwait and Najd came up for discussion.
It was recognised atfonce that the power of Ibn
Subah (to give the shaikh of Kuwait his desert
title) was much less in the desert than it had
been when the Anglo-Turkish Agreement was
drawn up, and an agreement was eventually
arrived at by w T hich the frontier starts from
the junction of the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. al-’Aujah with the
Batin on the west. From this point, leaving
Riqa’i to Najd, it runs in a straight line to the
junction of the 29th parallel of latitude with the
red semi-circle on the map attached to the draft
Anglo-Turkish Agreement, j| and then follows the
red semi-circle to the sea. The above forms the
southern boundary of the recognized ter rite y of
Kuwait, but the tract . f country bounded on the
north by the above line, on the west by the
Shaqq, on the east by the sea, and on the south
by a straight line running eastwards from the
Shaqq in the west, through ’Ain al- ’Abd, to the
sea north of Ras al-Mish’ah, is recognized as
common to the two states of Najd and Kuwait,
in which both enjoy eqcal rights. In April 1923^
the Shaikh of Kuwait, was informed that His
Majesty’s Government recognized the other
frontiers claimed by him. The frontiers of
Kuwait are accordingly as shown on the attac hed
map.
* Serial No. 2 in File No. 387-X—23.
f Ibid, Enclosure 2 to Serial No, 16.
J Ibid, Enclosure 1 to Serial No. 16.
§ Ibid, Serial No. 20 and Enclosure to Serial No. 21.
|| S. E., December 1913, Nos. 1—245, Enclo to Fiv).
No. 134.
^[Serial No. 3i in file No. 387-X—23.