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| Arabia |
| Kuwait Restricts Access to Waters |
| 2002-12-10 |
| Kuwait announced a dusk to dawn ban on fishing and recreational boats in its territorial waters, as well as restricted access to the sea around ports and its water border with Iraq. The restrictions, which the Interior Ministry said Tuesday were effective ``until further notice,'' were implemented a week after Kuwait accused an Iraqi vessel of trading gunfire with two Kuwaiti coast guard speedboats in its northern waters. Nobody was injured in the Dec. 3 shooting. Baghdad denied the incident. The American military, which said it had special operations troops aboard at least one of the vessels, also disputed the reports of gunfire. Special ops were on board? That opens a interesting line of thought, maybe they were coming back from, er, somewhere. Such incidents along the Kuwaiti-Iraqi land and naval borders have been rare and few have been reported in recent years. Under the new restrictions, during daylight hours private vessels must stay at least two miles away from oil ports, coastal oil facilities and naval installations, the Interior Ministry said. Vessels will be allowed to sail through waters surrounding the commercial ports of Shuwaikh and Doha but may not stop. Photographing or sketching of any restricted area also was banned by the new rules, which the ministry said were aimed at ``strengthening security around Kuwait's naval border and territorial waters.'' Hummmmm. In early November, authorities closed a vast portion of desert in the northwest of the country where Kuwaiti military forces conduct maneuvers with U.S. troops. Nothing to see here. Ignore the big grey ships. Move along. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 Kuwait will soon be effectively invisible. |
| Posted by: Chuck 2002-12-10 15:11:17 |
| #1 |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2002-12-10 14:37:22 |