ON KUWAITI BORDER, 19 March 2003 — As a US-led attack on Iraq is just hours away, life on the Saudi-Kuwaiti borders, near Khafji, is moving at a normal pace and authorities on the Saudi side say that there is no abnormal traffic coming from Kuwait.
“It appears that Kuwaitis have taken the war threat in their stride and there does not appear any panic movement,” said a customs official at the check post.
Although furnished apartments and hotels in Khafji are packed with Kuwaitis, authorities say that these are people who frequently shuttle between Khafji and Kuwait City. The security around the border is of course beefed up and the same goes with Saudi Aramco facility in the neutral zone.
Just 12 years ago this stretch of land between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait was a war-ravaged territory. The Iraqi troops which had occupied Khafji for a short while had destroyed the border post completely and the road leading to Kuwait via Nuaisib was rendered unusable. Large bomb craters punctuated a large part of the road from Nuaisib to Kuwait City.
Kuwaitis as well as residents of Khafji are confident that there will not be any repetition of such scenario.
“The entire area is well-protected, on the Kuwaiti side by GCC forces and on the Saudi side by Saudi armed forces,” said Ahmad Al-Abki, a local journalist.
People living near the border know that between them and Iraq is Kuwait and hence there is no threat to them, Al-Abki said. In 1990-91 war Kuwait was occupied by Iraqi forces and hence in effect Iraqis were just on the Saudi borders.
Kuwaitis living on the fringe of the border do not hide their dislike for Saddam Hussein but at the same time they feel that it will be the common people of Iraq who would suffer in the event of an attack on Iraq.
“Saddam is a devious leader. Iraqis have suffered a lot due to his misrule as well as the UN sanctions and a new war will bring more devastation and miseries to them,” said Abdullah Al-Shammary, a Kuwaiti school teacher who had crossed the border just two days ago and intends to return home in a day or two.
Meanwhile, the hotel industry in Dammam and Alkhobar which anticipated a large influx of Kuwaitis as a result of the war threat was disappointed, as hardly any Kuwaiti showed up at any of the five-star and three star hotels. The occupancy rate of five star hotels in Dammam and Alkhobar ranged between 30 and 50 percent, while in three-star hotels it was between 40 and 60 percent. Furnished apartments in the two cities recorded the same dismal performance.
