U.S. Navy only safeguard for Kuwaiti oil exports

Press, 24 July 1987, Page 27

U.S. Navy only safeguard for Kuwaiti oil exports

By

PHILIP SHEHADI

NZPA-Reuter Kuwait Kuwait, within earshot of the Iran-Iraq war, sees United States Navy protection for its oil tankers as the only way to safeguard its vital oil exports from a spillover of the conflict.

The northern . Gulf emirate, one of the world’s richest countries on a per capita basis, has been sucked into a struggle that threatens to undermine its social and economic stability. Iran in recent months has stepped up attacks on shipping linked to Kuwait in retaliation for Iraqi attacks on Iranian oil installations and tankers. It strikes against Kuwait for the emirate’s support for Iraq, a neighbour and fellow Arab State.

In an effort to get some form of defence against the attacks, Kuwaiti officials proposed that half the emirate’s 22tanker fleet be reregistered as American and thereby gain the protection of the United States Navy.

“The flow of our oil has become threatened,” Crown Prince and Prime

Minister Sheikh Saad alAbdullah al-Sabah told a news conference. “This will, in turn, seriously jeopardise the only source of our national income.” He said more than 50 ships bound to or from Kuwait, 11 of them Kuwait-owned, had been hit since the “tanker war” broke out in early 1984 as an extension of the seven-year-old Gulf war. Iran has detained numerous Kuwaiti vessels in searches for Iraqbound arms. Diplomats and local news media say it may also have been involved in recent bombing attacks carried out by Kuwaiti dissidents against oil installations and downtown businesses.

Sheikh Saad said Kuwait tried “to overcome this dangerous situation through various peaceful means” but to no avail.

Diplomats said the decision to appeal to the big powers — Kuwait also chartered three Soviet tankers which are protected by the Russian Navy — reflected Kuwait’s frustration at what it saw as international neglect for its

problems and inaction on the Gulf war. The move followed the failure of numerous peace bids by the Gulf Co-opera-tion Council, a grouping of conservative Gulf Arab States, the Islamic Conference Organisation — of which Kuwait is the present chairman — the NonAligned Movement and the United Nations.

By involving the big powers more directly in the Gulf, Kuwait hopes they will do more to stop the war, which broke out in September 1980, and is now the longest and bloodiest conflict since World War 11.

The United Nations Security Council in a new initiative has called for a cease-fire in the war. Iraq has indicated acceptance and Teheran rejection. Officials say Kuwait is the country most threatened by the war and yet, with a population of only 1.6 million, it has limited means to defend itself. "We feel more than anyone else the ravages of this destructive war together with the risks of its spreading,” Sheikh Saad said.

During an Iranian of-

fensive in January against the southern Iraqi city of Basra, 160 km away, residents heard the sound of artillery at night.

Although one of the world’s wealthiest 'countries, Kuwait is also highly vulnerable. Oil exports of about one billion barrels accounted for 43 per cent of State revenue in the 1985-86 fiscal year, all of them exported through the Gulf. Most of the rest of Kuwait’s income is from investments made with past oil revenue.

The emirate is considering plans to build a pipeline through Saudi Arabia to enable it to export crude from the Red Sea. But even if the pipeline were built, Kuwait would remain dependent on the Gulf for more than half its exports, oil sources say.

Kuwaiti officials have sought to play down the risks of the reflagging. But Iran has said it will keep up attacks on Gulf shipping as long as Iraq does and the United States naval escorts will not deter it.