Kuwait intensifies security on border with Iraq

Kuwait had deployed riot-fighting forces along its borders with Iraq after renewed tension at Um al-Qaser border point between angry Iraqi demonstrators and Kuwaiti border guards in protest of the building of a Kuwaiti security barrier.

The clashes came when one person among 40 Iraqi demonstrators opened fire toward a Kuwaiti police border center. No casualties were reported.

Angry Iraqis are meeting at the borderline, renewing acts of "riots" during the three past days, demonstrating in protest of placing a pipeline barrier at the border line.

Contacts renewed between the Iraqi and the Kuwaiti government to deal with this problem. The governor of al-Basra, in Iraq, Muhammad Misbah, met with the Kuwaiti minister of the interior and agreed to stop building the barrier until an agreement is reached between the two states.

The governor of Basra called on the Kuwaiti side not to escalate the situation, considering that this matter undermines his country's sovereignty, and that it is necessary to solve it via diplomatic channels.

A statement by the Kuwaiti ministry of the interior called for be alert and ready to face any possibilities. The Kuwaiti minister of the interior Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah called for speedy establishment of an advanced security system to monitor the border. It is expected that building the barrier which is one meter high will be completed by the end of the current year.

Iraqi official reactions varied. While the Iraqi foreign ministry approved the right of Kuwait to establish the fence. The minister of defense Sadoun al-Duleimi said that the reaction of the Kuwaitis to Um al-Qaser events "was not wise." Officials in Kuwait rejected Iraqi acts of protest at the barrier. The Kuwaiti foreign minister Sheikh Muhammad said that the fence was built on the Kuwaiti territories and according to UN Security Council resolution no. 833 on border demarcation between the two states, and that this belt serves "keeping the two countries's security, and prevents the infiltration of terrorists," as he alleged.

Worthy mentioning that the forces of the former Iraqi regime invaded Kuwait in 1990 before the USA and its allies launched a war to expel it in February 1991, seven months after occupation.