RECONNAISSANCE VISIT TO NEW IRAQ-KUWAIT BORDER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 000033 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/I E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/12/2016 TAGS: ECON ETRD KU MARR PBTS SUBJECT: RECONNAISSANCE VISIT TO NEW IRAQ-KUWAIT BORDER CROSSING REF: A. 06 KUWAIT 4173 ¶B. 06 KUWAIT 4638 Classified By: Economic Counselor Timothy A. Lenderking for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C/NF) On January 7, Econcouns participated in a site visit to the new border facilities at Kheybari Crossing (K-Crossing),scheduled to open later this spring, with U.S. military officials from Army Forces Central Command (ARCENT). K-crossing is located approximately forty-seven kilometers west of Navistar, which currently serves as the primary land crossing for U.S. and Coalition military forces and materiel entering Iraq from Kuwait. Navistar is scheduled to close and be reclaimed by the Kuwaiti military once K-Crossing is fully operational and the U.S. military breaks down the site and returns it to its original state. ¶2. (C/NF) The basic findings of the visit are as follows: -- While the opening of K-Crossing is still officially slated for February 28, 2007, technical problems on the Iraqi side, where dozens of kilometers of roadway still need to be asphalted, are likely to delay the opening until April, according to the latest estimates of ARCENT and despite the best efforts of U.S. engineers to push the project along, and as reported in Ref A. ARCENT officials stressed that based on their information, problems with the Iraqi contractor and not security issues were delaying the surfacing of the road in Iraq. -- The Kuwait side of the border is ready from a technical point of view, as the necessary structures and infrastructure to support both U.S. military and Kuwait military, customs, and immigration are in place. Though not contemplated, an expansion of the existing footprint would be difficult without additional sources of electrical power, which is supplied by the local power grid. Some force protection enhancements need to be made, and a communications tower needs to be rebuilt to extend radio coverage, but ARCENT officials said none of the modifications would delay the opening of the border on the Kuwait side. The road is fully paved to the border. -- U.S. military will staff the border out of Camp Buehring, approximately thirty-five kilometers southeast of K-Crossing. This arrangement contrasts with Navistar, where the border and U.S. facilities are essentially co-located. 
 -- At present there are no facilities -- restaurants, gas stations, or shops -- on the road that runs between Ali Al Salem Air Base and K-Crossing, a distance of approximately sixty kilometers. Navistar, in contrast, is located at the end of a national highway that has basic travel amenities and automotive services. -- Members of the Movement Control Team (MCT) based in Navistar who are drawing up standard operating procedures (SOPs) to govern the border crossing intend to use the Navistar agreement as a template and make local adaptations as necessary. MCT intends that provisions are made in the agreement to ensure that all fuel contractors with valid contracts for deliveries to Iraq are able to transit K Crossing. MCT officials stressed that when completed, the SOPs will not constitute a formal MOU signed by the U.S. military and Kuwait, but will serve rather as a working document. A stated goal is to process vehicles in and out of K-Crossing within ninety minutes. -- The GOK presence at the border will include staff from the Ministry of Interior, Customs, and Immigration. They will maintain separate barracks and facilities, which already exist. -- ARCENT officials believe that K-Crossing will be substantially more secure than Navistar. (Comment: There have been numerous hijackings of convoys in the vicinity of Safwan, Iraq, just north of the Kuwait border at Navistar. End Comment.) The K-Crossing has an advantage in terms of its remoteness, as there is no habitation on either side of the border; on the Iraq side, apart from a bitumen plant being used to build the road, there is virtually no habitation between the border and An-Nasiriyah, roughly one hundred kilometers to the north. -- At present there are no installations or structures of any kind on the Iraq side of the border at K-Crossing. The KUWAIT 00000033 002 OF 002 eight-meter-wide dirt road that will be paved in the coming months snakes into the desert, amidst the wreckage of some Iraqi tanks left over from the first Gulf War. ¶2. (C/NF) ARCENT officials plan to meet with Kuwait border officials, as part of the border working group cited Ref B, during the month of January to conduct a similar walk-through and review of procedures regulating K-Crossing. Emboffs plan to participate in this and subsequent meetings to help ensure that the transition from Navistar to K-Crossing proceeds as smoothly as possible. ********************************************* * For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ ********************************************* * LeBaron