Iraq vs. Kuwait - Peace Research Center Prague - Charles University Center of Excellence

Iraq vs. Kuwait

1991 - 2003


Core issue: Baghdad was claiming that Kuwait was not sovereign state and an artificial
creation by the British colonial power. Kuwait claimed its independency and asked
for its recognition by Iraq as a state, as well as respect for their common border

Type of conflict ending: Conflict Withering


At the heart of the Iraq-Kuwait conflict was a territorial issue - Iraq did not recognize Kuwait as a sovereign state. After the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988, Iraq was economically weakened. Eight years of conflict resulted in economic debt, especially towards Kuwait. Further, Iraq was aiming for political hegemony in the Arab world in accordance with its pan-Arabism ideology and annexed Kuwait during a short military campaign in 1990. After unsuccessful negotiations in Geneva, a US-led coalition attacked Iraq (Operations Desert Storm and Desert Sabre). As a result, Iraq withdrew from Kuwait in 1991. The frozen conflict ended through the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Iraq justified its invasion of Kuwait in 1990 with two reasons. First, Iraq as an anti-colonialist power did not recognize the legitimacy of Kuwait as a state, since it was a creation of the British colonial power and it disputed the existing border demarcation. Further, Iraq and Kuwait remained at odds with each other because of a contentious dispute within OPEC. The organization set a limit of oil production that Kuwait did not meet with detrimental effects for Iraq's oil sales. These conditions, coupled with the debt which Baghdad owed to Kuwait, played a role in the decision of Saddam Hussein to annex Kuwait.

The relations between Kuwait and Iraq hit rock bottom after the annexation of Kuwait by in 1990 and remained contentious after the ensuing liberation by the US-led coalition. To secure its position as an independent state, Kuwait hosted US and international military bases on its soil to deter Baghdad. However, Iraq did not stop its aggressive and expansionist aspirations and isolated itself even more throughout the 1990s with aggressive foreign policy posturing.

Kuwait assumed a central role during the US war against Iraq in 2003 by hosting coalition troops before the invasion began. After the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Kuwait re-established its diplomatic relations with Baghdad in 2004. This type of resolution can be described as conflict withering, since Saddam Hussein was overthrown by the United States as part of the Iraq War which was not directly connected to conflict between Iraq and Kuwait, but to a wider problem of balance of power in the region. With the new regime in Iraq, diplomatic relations with Kuwait were reestablished.


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