VZCZCXRO8888
RR RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHDIR RUEHKUK RUEHTRO
DE RUEHBC #0067/01 3651131
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 311131Z DEC 09
FM REO BASRAH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0956
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHBC/REO BASRAH 0994

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BASRAH 000067 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  12/31/2019 
TAGS: PREL ECON EWWT ETRD PGOV EFIS PBTS IZ IR KU
SUBJECT: IRAQI FISHERMEN HARASSED BY IRAN AND KUWAIT 
 
REF: A. BAGHDAD 3110 
     ¶B. BAGHDAD 3004 
     ¶C. BAGHDAD 1912 
 
BASRAH 00000067  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: John Naland, PRT Team Leader, PRT Basra, US State 
Department. 
REASON: 1.4 (a), (b), (c) 
======= 
Summary 
======= 
 
¶1. (C) Iraqi fishermen are bearing the brunt of conflicting 
claims by Iraq and its neighbors to territorial waters in the 
Persian Gulf.  Media reports and personal accounts by fishermen, 
PRT members, US Navy personnel in the region, and a British 
naval officer familiar with the situation confirm repeated acts 
of intimidation and violence against Iraqi fishermen by the 
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy and the Kuwaiti Navy and Coast 
Guard.  While US and UK Navy training of the Iraqi Navy (IqN) is 
helping reduce some of the tensions in the Gulf, without 
accepted maritime boundaries, the Iranians and Kuwaitis will 
continue to enforce their territorial water claims to the 
detriment of Iraq's fishermen.  End summary. 
 
==================================== 
Frustrated Fishermen Face Harassment 
==================================== 
 
¶2. (C) Recent PRT visits to al-Faw and off-shore oil terminals 
yielded personal accounts of what we see reported from time to 
time in the local media: harassment and intimidation of Iraqi 
fishermen by Iranian and Kuwaiti forces.  Aqeel Salman, the 
chairman of the al-Faw Fisheries Association, which represents 
most of the 10,000 fishermen in southern Iraq, raised the issue 
with PRT members during one visit.  He reported that Iranian and 
Kuwaiti forces routinely harass and intimidate fishermen in what 
he viewed as international waters in the Persian Gulf.  Salman 
said that fishermen were being harassed and mistreated.  He 
related instances of Iraqi fishing boats being fired upon, 
having their nets cut and equipment thrown overboard, and being 
confiscated.  He knew of seven boats being held by Iran, and 
four by Kuwait.  The chairman said both the national and 
provincial governments were well aware of the situation, and 
criticized them for failing to engage the Iranians and Kuwaitis 
to defend Iraqi fishermen's rights.  (Note: Basrah Governor 
Shiltagh confirmed to us that he knows of the problem, but said 
he has no authority to act since the central government is 
responsible for international issues.  End note.) 
 
¶3. (C) Lieutenant Commander Stephen Banfield, a British naval 
officer currently stationed with the British Consulate in 
Basrah, confirmed that conflicting national claims by Iran, 
Iraq, and Kuwait to the Gulf's waters has led to repeated 
challenges to Iraq's vessels by its neighbors.  He verified that 
both the Kuwaiti Navy and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy 
(not the Iranian Navy) routinely board Iraqi fishing boats that 
enter their claimed territorial waters.  (Note: Prior to Basrah, 
LTC Banfield worked for the Bahrain-based United Kingdom 
Maritime Component Commander and Combined Task Force Iraqi 
Maritime (CTF-IM), both which assist the IqN and Iraqi Marines 
in safeguarding their territorial waters and defending their 
offshore oil platforms.  End note.)  Banfield said that on an 
average day, there are up to 500 Iraqi fishing boats in this 
part of the Persian Gulf.  They often lack GPS or other 
geographic positioning equipment, and tend to follow the schools 
of fish, sometimes into disputed waters.  Banfield added that, 
like most countries, both the Kuwaitis and Iranians are very 
strict about protecting their claimed territorial waters, and 
that the Iranians tend to be much more heavy-handed than the 
Kuwaitis in challenging Iraqi fishermen.  Banfield said that the 
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy would open fire on Iraqi boats 
if they fail to stop for boarding after receiving three 
warnings. 
 
¶4. (C) U.S. Navy Commander Chip Wrye, Executive Officer, Iraq 
Training and Advisory Mission at the IqN HQ in Umm Qasr, told 
PRTOffs that encounters between the Kuwaiti Navy and Coast Guard 
and Iraqi fishermen have been occurring on a weekly, sometimes 
daily, basis for many years.  Such encounters typically range 
from verbal harassment to beatings and seizure/destruction of 
equipment.  LTC Wrye said that IqN sources indicate that the 
overwhelming majority of harassment/violence toward Iraqi 
fishermen has occurred at the hands of the Kuwaiti Coast Guard, 
and generally been to the north and west of Iraq's off-shore Al 
Basrah Oil Terminal (ABOT).  LTC Wrye said that the latest 
incident occurred in November 2009, when two Iraqi fishermen 
were severely beaten and required hospitalization.  (Note: LTC 
Wrye noted, however, that that the overwhelming majority of 
information regarding such incidents has come as a result of 
reporting by the fisherman themselves to the IqN, not from any 
thorough Iraqi military investigations.  End note.) 
 
¶5. (C) As for conflicts with Iran, Commander Wrye said that IqN 
HQ reports that Iraqi fishermen have been similarly harassed for 
years, to include beatings, shootings, robbery, and bribery by 
Iranian military and police.  (Note: Wrye did not specify which 
 
BASRAH 00000067  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
Iranian forces were involved.  End note.)  The number of 
incidents involving Iranian forces reported by Iraqi fishermen 
to the IqN, however, has traditionally been much less than the 
reports involving Kuwaitis.  According to LTC Wrye, this 
disparity does not necessarily mean that there are fewer 
incidents.  Most incidents involving Iranians occur on or near 
the inlet to the Shatt Al Arab, an area patrolled by the Iraqi 
Coastal Border Guard (CBG), the latter which Wrye said 
traditionally does not share information with the IqN. 
 
¶6. (C) Wrye also said that as recently as about July 2009, US 
Navy personnel have directly witnessed Iranian aggression 
towards Iraqi fishermen.  While on a training mission in the 
vicinity of Iraq's off-shore Khor Al Amaya Oil Terminal (KAAOT), 
an Iraqi patrol boat with US Navy personnel on board, received a 
request for assistance from an Iraqi fishing dhow.  Upon 
arrival, US Navy personnel observed numerous bullet holes in the 
dhow's wheelhouse, deck, and a pump.  The fishermen said that an 
Iranian military patrol boat had approached, accused the crew of 
fishing in Iranian waters, and fired numerous AK-47 rounds into 
the vessel.  Although no Iraqi fishermen were wounded, the dhow 
required a tow back to shore.  Although the IqN believes that 
similar harassment of Iraqi fishermen by Iranian forces 
continues, it continues to receive only periodic reports of such 
incidents.  A more complete source of information could probably 
be provided by the Iraqi CBG. 
 
============================================= 
Training, Communication Helps Reduce Tensions 
============================================= 
 
¶7. (C) To help diffuse the tensions in the Gulf, the United 
States and British Royal Navy have been providing training to 
the Iraqis (ref A) at the IqN HQ at Umm Qasr, under the command 
of Multi National Security Transition Command-Iraq.  This 
mission is for training only, and except in the case of 
emergency or otherwise directed by the MNF-I Commander, 
personnel are forbidden from participating in any operations. 
One training success has been the establishment of daily lines 
of communications between the Iraqi and Kuwaiti navies, which 
allows them to coordinate activities in the Persian Gulf and 
minimize surprises.  As for the Iranians, there is little 
engagement or cooperation.  US forces maintain a buffer zone 
around KAAOT, which lies within waters claimed by both Iraq and 
Iran, and which trans-ship only a limited volume of Iraq's 
southern exports. 
 
¶8. (C) Possibly as a result of assisting in greater 
Iraqi-Kuwaiti lines of communication, and to address this 
serious November 2009 incident above, Commander Wrye said that 
in late November, IqN Chief of Staff Captain Abdul Wahid asked 
for a meeting with his Kuwaiti Navy counterpart (Captain 
Abdullah Dashti), regarding the treatment of Iraqi fishermen by 
the Kuwaiti forces.  Although no Kuwaiti Coast Guard personnel 
attended the meeting, since this meeting, Wrye said that no 
incidents between any Kuwaiti military forces (Navy or Coast 
Guard) and Iraqi fishermen have been reported.  According to 
Wrye, this apparent improved situation could have also been the 
result of a Kuwaiti request that the IqN intercept any and all 
Iraqi fishermen that approach a certain defined limit, and 
direct them back to undisputed territorial waters. 
 
======= 
Comment 
======= 
 
¶9. (C) The dispute over territorial waters is a long-standing 
issue (ref B).  While US and UK Navy training of the IqN is 
helping reduce some of the tensions in the gulf, until clear 
boundaries are settled, and with all parties willing to observe 
them, the Iranians and Kuwaitis could continue to enforce their 
claims to the detriment of Iraq's fishermen. 
NALAND