***** New York Times March 11, 2003
U.N. Force at Kuwait Border Braces for Assault on Iraq By STEVEN LEE MYERS
DEMILITARIZED ZONE, Kuwait, March 10 - The last international obstacle that stands between the United States and a war against Iraq is not just a vote on the Security Council but this barren stretch of scrub and desert patrolled by 1,300 soldiers and civilians, 11 of them Americans....
As American and British forces mass just south of here, the observers from the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission have reported repeated incursions into the zone. Most were by American helicopter and jet patrols and what appeared to be scouting missions by American marines in armored personnel carriers and civilian vehicles.
Five days ago a civilian contractor from South Africa cut seven holes in the fence on the Kuwaiti side - two west and five east of the small border outpost at Abdaly.
When questioned, he told officials here that Kuwait's Interior Ministry had hired him to cut 35 holes by March 15, two days before a proposed deadline for Iraq to comply fully with United Nations resolutions barring its possession of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
The fence belongs to Kuwait, and so pocking it with holes does not technically violate the demilitarized zone, but with each gap wide enough for two American M1-A1 tanks side by side, the significance of it and the other incursions is obvious. "We are not stupid," Maj. Sandor Galavics, an Austrian officer here, said today....
The demilitarized zone - three miles deep in Kuwait and six miles deep in Iraq - stretches 124 miles from the Saudi border to Iraq's only deep-water port at Umm Qasr and another 28 miles into the Khawr Abd Allah, an inlet of the Persian Gulf.
The zone is mostly flat and desolate, though several thousand Iraqis live within it, as do farmers and shepherds on the Kuwaiti side. The Iraqi side is still covered with land mines, as well as tank graveyards and other detritus of the last war.
Militarily the zone will be little more than a speed bump. One American Army officer said mammoth earthmovers already in place here would simply plow through the berms and fill the trenches to clear routes for advancing forces.
Diplomatically, though, it may be another matter.
If American-led ground forces punch through en masse on their way into Iraq, especially without approval of the United Nations Security Council, the United States and its allies could find themselves violating Security Council Resolution 687. The resolution created the observer mission in April 1991 with the mandate to deter incursions and "observe any hostile actions mounted from the territory of one state into another."
As they have for years, the observers reported the recent incursions to United Nations headquarters in New York....
The last report to the Security Council, covering March through September of last year, tallied 278 incursions. Most of those were American patrols of the no-flight zone over southern Iraq, which was never explicitly authorized by the United Nations....
In recent weeks, officers here said, there have been no Iraqi incursions, but many American and British ones.
"Most every day there is some violation," said Maj. Stephen Prosser, a British officer at Patrol and Observation Base N7, one of 17 in the zone.
Many of those are committed by American or British soldiers who have simply lost their way in the swirling desert and, Major Prosser said, happily turn around when confronted. Others are clearly there with a purpose....
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/11/international/middleeast/11BORD.html> & <http://www.iht.com/articles/89426.htm> *****
***** United Nations S/RES/687 (1991)
8 April 1991
RESOLUTION 687 (1991)
Adopted by the Security Council at its 2981st meeting, on 3 April 1991
The Security Council,
...Affirming the commitment of all Member States to the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of Kuwait and Iraq, and noting the intention expressed by the Member States cooperating with Kuwait under paragraph 2 of resolution 678 (1990) to bring their military presence in Iraq to an end as soon as possible consistent with paragraph 8 of resolution 686 (1991)....
Noting that Iraq and Kuwait, as independent sovereign States, signed at Baghdad on 4 October 1963 "Agreed Minutes Between the State of Kuwait and the Republic of Iraq Regarding the Restoration of Friendly Relations, Recognition and Related Matters", thereby recognizing formally the boundary between Iraq and Kuwait and the allocation of islands, which were registered with the United Nations in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations...
Conscious of the need for demarcation of the said boundary...
Conscious also of the objective of achieving balanced and comprehensive control of armaments in the region [of the Middle East]...
A
2. Demands that Iraq and Kuwait respect the inviolability of the international boundary and the allocation of islands set out in the "Agreed Minutes Between the State of Kuwait and the Republic of Iraq Regarding the Restoration of Friendly Relations, Recognition and Related Matters", signed by them in the exercise of their sovereignty at Baghdad on 4 October 1963 and registered with the United Nations and published by the United Nations in document 7063, United Nations, Treaty Series, 1964;
3. Calls upon the Secretary-General to lend his assistance to make arrangements with Iraq and Kuwait to demarcate the boundary between Iraq and Kuwait, drawing on appropriate material, including the map transmitted by Security Council document S/22412 and to report back to the Security Council within one month;
4. Decides to guarantee the inviolability of the above-mentioned international boundary and to take as appropriate all necessary measures to that end in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations;
B
5. Requests the Secretary-General, after consulting with Iraq and Kuwait, to submit within three days to the Security Council for its approval a plan for the immediate deployment of a United Nations observer unit to monitor the Khor Abdullah and a demilitarized zone, which is hereby established, extending ten kilometres into Iraq and five kilometres into Kuwait from the boundary referred to in the "Agreed Minutes Between the State of Kuwait and the Republic of Iraq Regarding the Restoration of Friendly Relations, Recognition and Related Matters" of 4 October 1963; to deter violations of the boundary through its presence in and surveillance of the demilitarized zone; to observe any hostile or potentially hostile action mounted from the territory of one State to the other; and for the Secretary-General to report regularly to the Security Council on the operations of the unit, and immediately if there are serious violations of the zone or potential threats to peace...
33. Declares that, upon official notification by Iraq to the Secretary-General and to the Security Council of its acceptance of the provisions above, a formal cease-fire is effective between Iraq and Kuwait and the Member States cooperating with Kuwait in accordance with resolution 678 (1990);
34. Decides to remain seized of the matter and to take such further steps as may be required for the implementation of the present resolution and to secure peace and security in the area.
<http://www.fas.org/news/un/iraq/sres/sres0687.htm> ***** -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html>
* Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/>
* Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/>
* Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio>
* Solidarity: <http://solidarity.igc.org/>
_______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
