Iraqi lawmakers petition foreign ministry on "Khor Abdullah" agreement

Shafaq News/ Scores of Iraqi lawmakers have forwarded a signed request to the country's Foreign Ministry, urging the deposition of the Federal Supreme Court's decision— the nation's top judicial body— declaring the "Khor Abdullah" agreement null and void, to the United Nations.

The petition, bearing the signatures of 174 parliamentarians, was made public by lawmaker Zainab al-Jayashi. She called on the Foreign Ministry to lodge the court's resolution with the UN and the International Maritime Organization to end the effects of the deal.

Tensions have been rising between Kuwait and Iraq after the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court earlier this month ruled an agreement regulating navigation in the Khor Abdullah waterway was unconstitutional. The court said the law that ratified the accord should have been approved by two-thirds of parliament.

The land border between the two was demarcated by the United Nations in 1993 after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, but it did not cover the length of their maritime boundaries, and this was left for the two oil producers to resolve.

An agreement between the two nations was reached in 2012 and ratified by each of their legislative bodies in 2013.

Iraqi parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi on Thursday met with a delegation from the Kuwaiti national assembly and emphasized "the importance of respecting and implementing bilateral agreements that are in the interest of the two brotherly peoples," a statement from his office said.

The statement did not refer specifically to the Khor Abdullah waterway.