"ملف ٦/٤ II الحدود الكويتية-العراقية" [و‎‎١‎٨‎٣] (٤٤٠/٣٦٥)

’ERSIAN GULF RESIDENCY
BAHRAIN,
18th November, 1S48,
(233/2/48)
(A-
Commanding Officer, H.M.S. Vvren, which I have received
through the Senior Naval Officer, Persian Gulf, giving
a summary of a discussion which he held recently with
the Director of Ports and Navigation, Basra, on the subject
of the development of the port of Umm Qasr. No copy of
the notes referred to in paragraph 8 of the report was
forv/arded to me.
2. When I visited Baghdad on the 9th November, I was
informed by Trevelyan that the Iraq Governments note on
this subject had not yet arrived but was shortly expected.
Before the port can be developed, it will be necessary
to arrive at some arrangement with the Shaikh of Kuwait
regarding the use of his territory and territorial waters,
and in discussing the matter we came to the conclusion that
this could only be done after the frontier between Iraq
and Kuwait has been demarcated.
3. I also discussed the case with the Director General,
Ports and Navigation, Basra, during his visit to Bahrain.
He informed that it has now been decided that the piping for
the projected Abadan-Mediterranean pipe line should be unloaded
at Basra for storing at Shaibah so that the development of
the new port is not quite so urgent a matter as it was. He
also said that in his opinion it would be necessary for vessels
visiting Umm Qasr to use the channel between Warba and Bubiyan,
which is entirely within Kuwait territorial waters, and not
the Khor Shetana where the boundary between Kuwait and Iraq
follows the thalweg. He further stated that in the very near
future he wishes to errect tide gauges in the approaches to
Umm Qasr and that some of these will inevitably be located in
Kuwait territorial waters, and w r e shall no doubt shortly receive
an official request to approach the Shaikh on this subject.
4. In correspondence which took place between you and the
Foreign Office while you were acting as political Resident,
it was decided that after taking over at Kuwait you should seek
the consent of the Shaikh to a further approach to the Iraq
Government regarding the demarcation of the Kuwait-Iraq frontier
on the basis of the 1940 formula. I should be grateful if
you would kindly do this at an early date and inform me of the
result.
Lt. Col. A.C. Galloway, CIE. , 03E.,
Political Agent,
Kuwait.