IOR/L/PS/12/2883

The file contains papers relating to alleged incidents occurring on or near the border between Iraq and Kuwait (Koweit). It mostly concerns alleged incidents of Iraqi police in armed cars making incursions into Kuwait territory, and alleged incidents of violation of Kuwaiti territorial waters by the Iraqi armed Customs launch from Fao [Al-Faw, Iraq]. It also includes papers relating to: alleged camel thieving raids into Kuwaiti territory by tribesmen from Iraq; allegations made by the Government of Iraq of smuggling incidents involving Kuwaiti nationals in Iraqi territory; Iraqi allegations that the Shaikh of Kuwait twice entered Iraqi territory with an armed escort; and British proposals that the Kuwait-Iraq frontier should be clearly demarcated, and that a commission should be set up to enquire into frontier incidents.

The papers mainly consist of the following:

• Copy letters from the Ruler of Kuwait [Shaikh Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ] to the Political Agent, Kuwait, mainly containing allegations of Iraqi incursions into Kuwaiti territory and territorial waters, and requests by the Shaikh for British officials to make representations to the Iraqi Government about these incidents, with enclosed statements by Kuwaiti subjects about the alleged incidents.
• Copy correspondence between the British Embassy, Baghdad, and the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in which the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs largely deny that the Iraqi police or the Iraqi Customs launch entered Kuwaiti territory, and claim that reports of this were being fabricated by individuals opposed to the efforts of the Government of Iraq to combat smuggling.
• Correspondence and copy correspondence between the following: the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Bushire, and HM Ambassador, Baghdad; the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf and the Political Agent, Kuwait; HM Representative, Baghdad, and the Foreign Office; the Foreign Office and the India Office; and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf and the India Office.
• India Office minute papers.

The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.