Iraq,
Iran Commence Talks On Disputed Border Area
Iran
and Iraq have begun talks to resolve a dispute over an inactive
oil well in a sensitive area along the nearly 1,500-km border
between the two countries.
Iraq's foreign minister Hoshiyar Zebari met his Iranian
counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki in Baghdad, in a move to cool
tensions between the neighbours after a small contingent of
Iranian troops moved into an oilfield inside Iraqi territory
last month.
‘No headway’
Iraq had vowed that it would not give up an inch of its land.
At a news conference after the meeting, comments by the two
representatives indicated that the essence of the dispute had
not been resolved.
Mottaki said Iranian troops had been told to withdraw to their
original locations, but Zebari indicated they had not moved far
enough.
Zebari said the Iranian troops brought down the Iranian flag and
withdrew (only) to a certain distance.
Zebari said the two sides had agreed to normalise border
conditions and put back things as they were.
Bone of contention
The seizure of the well, which Iraq claims as part of its Fakka
oilfield in southeastern Maysan province, triggered protests
from Baghdad and jitters on world oil markets.
A border dispute led to the eight-year Iran-Iraq war in the
1980s.
Mottaki said the two countries were carrying out technical
discussions on the dispute and the talks would continue in the
coming weeks.
The Iraqi military said in December that about a dozen Iranian
soldiers had moved about 100 metres inside Iraqi territory and
raised the Iranian flag over the disputed well.
Iraqi officials later said the Iranians had moved away from the
well but were still on Iraqi soil.
The well was drilled in 1979 and provided about 3,000
barrels a day at the time, but has been inactive since 1980 due
to the war.
Fakka is part of the Maysan oilfield complex, which has reserves
of about 2.5 billion barrels. Iraq tried unsuccessfully
to auction it off to foreign oil companies last year.
Iraq has the world's third-largest oil reserves but is only the
11th-largest producer.
NAN/Yinka
