Kuwait summons Iraqi envoy amid accusations of assaulting fishermen

By Mohammad Abdul-Ghaffar
KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait (AA) – Kuwait summoned the Iraqi ambassador on Wednesday to protest accusations by a lawmaker for the Kuwaiti Coast Guard of assaulting Iraqi fishermen.

Kuwaiti Deputy Foreign Minister Majdi Al-Dhafiri met with Ambassador Al-Manhal Al-Safi to convey his country’s rejection of the Iraqi accusations, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Al-Dhafiri said the accusations “don’t reflect the deeply-rooted relations between the two neighbors,” according to the statement.

Iraqi MP Alaa al-Haidari has released a video in which he called on the pro-government Hashd al-Shaabi militia to deploy forces in the Khor Abdullah area, an estuary on the Iraqi-Kuwaiti borders, to protect Iraqi fishermen.

Kuwait and Iraq resumed diplomatic relations after the ousting of the former regime of Sadam Hussein in 2003.

Writing by Ahmed Asmar