Iraq and Kuwait have reached an agreement to create a 500-metre no-man's land on each side of the border and move Iraqi farmers to new homes, a Kuwaiti official said in comments published Wednesday. Under the accord, Kuwait agreed to build up to 50 homes inside Iraq for the farmers living close to the frontier, the Al-Seyassah daily quoted foreign ministry Arab world department chief Jassem Al-Mubaraki as saying.
The accord stipulates that the two Arab states will each keep a 500-metre strip completely free of any activity except for border police, Mubaraki added. In 1993, three years after Iraq invaded Kuwait, the UN Security Council approved Resolution 833 which demarcated the land border between the two nations.
The two sides signed a similar deal in 2006 after Iraqi farmers halted construction of a 200-kilometre irrigation pipeline on the border when Kuwait charged it passed through its territory.
