OPENING THE ABDALY-SAFWAN CROSSING TO BUCCA

UNCLAS KUWAIT 000849 SENSITIVE SIPDIS NEA/ARP, NEA/I, NEA/IPA DEPT PASS TO RDML GAR WRIGHT, USN, IRAQ E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER PREL MOPS PBTS KU IZ SUBJECT: OPENING THE ABDALY-SAFWAN CROSSING TO BUCCA SUPPORT CONVOYS REF: A. KUWAIT 0808 ¶B. KUWAIT 0842 (NOTAL) SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. ¶1. (SBU) During their July 22 meeting (ref B),Ambassador raised with Minister of Interior Shaykh Jaber Khaled al-Jaber Al Sabah opening an alternate route for U.S. military convoys provisioning Iraq's Camp Bucca. The current route exits Kuwait at the Khabari crossing and follows a parallel road 135 km along the Kuwait-Iraqi border. Historically one portion of this road has accounted for a significant percent of all IED attacks. Ambassador noted that we were no longer requesting that a new border opening be created at Bucca; however, allowing the convoys to travel internally and use the Abdaly-Safwan crossing area would enable them to reduce significantly both travel time and IED exposure. Ambassador advised that this request had been passed in writing with supporting diagrams and maps to MFA U/S Jarallah during their July 15 meeting (ref A). The number of convoys would be limited to three or so per week for a period of approximately 18 months. ¶2. (SBU) Shaykh Jaber had not yet received the package from the MFA, but said he would study the request. The Minister reaffirmed the GoK's opposition to opening a new crossing at Bucca. (Note: Embassy forwarded a copy of the package separately following Ambassador's meeting. End Note.) ¶3. (SBU) Embassy will continue to follow up on this request. ********************************************* * 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/ ********************************************* * JONES