GEOGRAPHIC NOTES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08C01297R000600050003-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 18, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: March 1, 1991
• Content Type: MISC

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/09/18: CIA-RDP080012971400701660050063--0
,
United States Department of State
Bureau of Intelligence and Research
Geographic Notes
1. CURRENT GEOGRAPHIC
ISSUES:
-
No. 13
March 1, 1991
Africa: Hunger Outlook for 1991
USSR: Aral Sea Disappearing Despite
Government Plans
14
15
Middle East
Gulf Boundaries: Shedding the Colonial
Legacy?
2. POLMCAL STATUS CHANGES
15
US.Governmentitevises Depiction of
Unified Germany
Vraq/Saudi A?Miia'and Iraq/Jordan
Bti?diries_?
2
Republic of Yemen
17
Water Reshaping Israel's Future
Persian Gulf: Oil as an "Eco-Weapon"
7
3. GEOGRAPHIC NAMES
Persian Gulf: Winter Weather and
Desert Storm
8
Notice of Changes to Geographic Notes #10 -
Status of the World's Nations
17
Gulf Refugees: Waiting for the Flood
10
Selected Foreign Names Decisions of the
US Board on Geographic Names
19
Elsewhere
South Africa: Politics of Black, White,
and Green
10
4. MAPS
German Environmental Unification
11
China: Population During Census Years
36
AIDS Update
12
Yugoslavia: Location of Selected
Ethnic Groups
37
Mexico: Border Issues of Migration and
Environment
12
Iraq: Outlets for Oil (Insert)
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Boundaries in the Arabian Peninsula
JORDAN
Worboh
KUWAIT
Kuwait
De facto boundary
03 shown on official
Saudi and Iraqi maps
Persian '
Gulf
- BAHRAIN
SAUDI
ARABIA
SEE
INSEE
In dispute
Gulf of Oman
SUDAN
Admin
line
ETHIOPIA
Saudi Arabia Claim, 1955
YEMEN
Arabian
Sea
Former British-
administered or
protected territories
Names and boundary representation
ore not necessarily authoritative
1157 10-90 5TAlE (INR/Cf)
Gulf of Aden
UTI
Former
British Somalia
?
???e?
Office of The Geographer
U.S. Department of State
Britain had granted to Bahrain) and between Yemen
and Saudi Arabia over Yemen's claim to boundaries
set by the British in interior Arabia. By contrast,
Saudi Arabia and Oman settled their common bound-
ary last March, although its exact location has not
been made public.
? Brad Thomas
Cartogtapher: Leo Dillon
0 US Government Revises
Depiction of iraq/Saudi Arabia
and Iraq/Jordan Boundaries
The Department of State has reviewed the
depiction of the Iraq/Saudi Arabia and Iraq/Jordan
boundaries on US Government maps. The bound-
ary between Iraq and Saudi Arabia currently being
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shown is the 1922 boundary, established by the
Protocol of Uqayr to the Treaty of Muhammarah.
Since 1981, however, when Iraq and Saudi Arabia
signed a treaty delimiting a new boundary, the
1922 boundary has not been the de facto boundary.
The 1981 line partitions the Neutral Zone and
straightens the boundary westward from it.
The boundary between Iraq and Jordan cur-
rently being shown is the one established in 1932
by an exchange of letters among the Iraqi Prime
Minister, the British Resident in Amman, and King
Abdullah. A treaty signed in 1984, however, de-
limits a new line which has become the de facto
boundary. It runs from the terminus of the 1981
Iraq/Saudi Arabia boundary to the old Iraq/
Jordan/Saudi Arabia tripoint, then turns northwest-
ward, making several dogleg turns to exchange
territory between Iraq and Jordan, and terminates at
the tripoint with Syria established by France and
Britain in 1931.
Iraq/Saudi Arabia boundary. Both Iraq and
Saudi Arabia show the 1981 boundary on their
official maps and respect it in practice, but neither
country has provided evidence of ratification or
precise coordinates for the new boundary. Under
the circumstances, the US has continued to depict
the 1922 boundary on its maps but has recognized
that conditions in the region make it necessary to
represent the boundary respected by the two coun-
tries as well.
The Department has issued revised guidance
to US cartographers which calls for continuing to
depict the 1922 boundary as the international
boundary while depicting the 1981 de facto bound-
ary_with a different symbol. The de facto boundary
is also to carry the notations "de facto boundary as
shown on official Iraqi and Saudi maps" and "align-
ment approximate."
The 1981 boundary consists of seven straight-
line segments (see map, below). Although the agree-
ment signed by Iraq and Saudi Arabia included a
survey by a joint boundary commission, the exact
coordinates of the boundary have not been released
to the public. The coordinates of the tripoint with
IRAQ-SAUDI ARABIA BOUNDARY
IRAQ
IRAN
SAUDI
ARABIA
De facto boundary as shown
on official Iraqi and Saudi maps
(alignment approximate)
International boundary
of 1922
4 N
?1?
International boundary
4 / Turning point 01 1981 de facto boundary
000 .1-et SIAM 0101/00
\
'444' Neolto/
3/?Pori ???????'.
e \2
KUWAIT
Kuwait
Norma and boundary 'prep:mit:Alan
are not nearesoray authoritative.
Office of The Geographer
U.S. Deponment of Stele
ellnegtOONIC DOT Can,
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Kuwait are known; those for the other seven points
have been approximated from existing maps. To
the nearest tenth of a minute, they are:
Point
Latitude
* 7
Longitude
1 Kuwait tripoint
29
06.1 N
46
33.2 E
2
29
03.7 N
46
25.6 E
3
29
11.9 N
44
43.3 E
4
30
25.0 N
43
03.9 E
5
31
06.7 N
42
05.1 E
6
31
22.4 N
41
26.4 E
7
31
56.9 N
40
24.8 E
8 Jordan tripoint
32
09.3 N
39
12.1 E
Iraq/Jordan boundary. Like Iraq and Saudi
Arabia, both Iraq and Jordan show the new bound-
ary on their official maps and respect it in practice.
Jordan has, in fact, ratified the 1984 treaty, but there
is no evidence of Iraqi ratification. Again, condi-
tions in the region have raised the need for depiction
of the de facto boundary.
New Department of State guidance calls for
continuing to depict the 1932 boundary as the inter-
national boundary while introducing the 1984 line
with a different symbol as a de facto boundary. The
1984 boundary is to carry the notations "de facto
IRAQ/JORDAN BOUNDARY
SYRIA
1
1
JORDAN 1
to?
Ar Ruwayshid
(village)
Names and boundary representation
are not necessarily authoritative.
1264 2-91 stwir (tret/cE)
Office of The Geographer
U.S. Department of State
IRAQ
De facto boundary as shown on ---
official Iraqi and Jordanian maps -
(alignment approximate)
0 10 mi.
?0 ? 10 km.
H3
(pumping Station)
De facto boundary
as shown on official
Iraqi and Saudi mops
(alignment approximate)
SAUDI ARABIA
Carlow apher Dim
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boundary as shown on official Iraqi and Jordanian
maps," and "alignment approximate."
The de facto boundary consists of six straight-
line segments (see map, p. 4). The treaty lists 62
points defining the boundary, giving bearings and
distances between them. These data have been
converted to provisional geographic coordinates for
the five turning points and two termini that de-
fine the straight-line segments. To the nearest tenth
of a second, they are:
Point
Latitude
9 II
Longitude
1 Saudi Arabia tripoint
32
09
15.2 N
39
12
03.4 E
2
32
13
48.8 N
39
18
04.2 E
3
32
21
20.0 N
39
15
36.0 E
4
32
18
14.6N
39
02
37.2 E
5
32
28
39.6 N
38
59
09.7 E
6
32
30
05.5 N
39
05
09.6 E
7 Syria tripoint
33
22
28.7 N
38
47
37.0 E
Point 2 is apparently the Iraq/Jordan/Saudi
Arabia international boundaries tripoint. Point 1
and point 8 in the previous table are the same. There
is parallelism in the straight-line segments from
point 2 on. Note the following azimuths:
Points
Azimuth
? 9 II
1 to 2
48
08
43
2 to 3
344
15
34
3 to 4
254
15
34
4 to 5
344
15
34
.5 to 6
74
15
34
6 to 7
344
15
34
Boundary segments 2 to 3, 4 to 5, and 6 to 7
are thus parallel, and boundary segments 3 to 4 and
5 to 6 are parallel (74* 15' 34" being the back
azimuth of 2540 15' 34").
Questions about the application of the above
information should be directed to Brad Thomas,
Office of The Geographer, Department of State
(202-647-2250).
? Brad Thomas
? Water Reshaping Israel's Future
A second consecutive year of drought has
prompted Israel to implement a drastic 60 percent
cutback in water for agriculture. Although the re-
allocation will devastate Israeli agriculture, this sec-
tor accounts for only 5 percent of gross national
product, 6 percent of the labor force, and 8 percent
of exports. It will be a bitter pill for "make the
desert bloom" traditionalists but, even with normal
rainfall, the sharp immigration-driven rise in mu-
nicipal and industrial demand will require taking
water away from agriculture. (See map, p. 6.)
Delicate imbalance. Israel's water crisis can
be laid as much to excessive and wasteful consump-
tion by agriculture (which takes 60 percent of the
supply) as to precipitation shortfalls or immigration.
The water level of Lake Kinneret (Tiberias)?
source of one-third of Israel's water?is near a
record low. Pumping from the lake was stopped last
November as it approached the "red line," below
which the lake becomes?some fear permanently?
too saline to use. As a result, the annual winter
artificial recharge of the two principal ground wa-
ter aquifers?source of another major share of the
water supply?could not take place. With no nat-
ural or artificial recharge, continued drawdowns
have left these aquifers increasingly saline from sea
water intrusion.
Adjusting agriculture. Farmers can adjust to
the cuts by reducing production of water-intensive
cotton and other field crops and irrigation of the
remainder with treated urban wastewater. Proposed
use of expensive desalinized sea water would re-
quire shifting to higher-priced market vegetables.
Raising water prices?now heavily subsidized?
would encourage conservation.
Foreign hookups? Israel already receives
some of its water from outside its borders. The
"Unity Dam" proposed for the Yarmuk River be-
tween Jordan and Syria presumably would reg-
ularize flows to downstream Israel but would not
add significantly to its supply. A private company
has proposed importation of water from Turkey al
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