Page 327 - UAE Truncal States

Chapter Eight

boundaries were boiling up everywhere, and partly because the semi-
settled tribes of the interior felt the economic depression of the 1930s
and the War years most acutely, I he hinterland fell into a slate of
almost constant warfare. Raids by beduin groups against one
another or against the coastal settlements became more frequent.
While the Rulers, Shaikh Shakhbul and Shaikh Sa'Td in particular,
were trying to secure influence over the inland tribes, notably the
Bani Qilab, Bani Ka'ab, the A1 Bu Sharnis, the Na’fm and the Bani
Yas’s traditional allies, the Manasir and 'Awamir, both states got
drawn into these incessant feuds. In September 1945 the increasingly
hostile atmosphere beleween the Rulers of Abu Dhabi and Dubai—
the latter State was by then very much under the control of Shaikh
Rashid bin Sa'Id—over the border problem and the beduin raids
developed into open warfare.
War meant still, as it had always done in this region, a series of
raids and counter-raids continuing over several months and even
years. Camels and other property were carried off, but human
casualties hardly ever exceeded single figures. In this war, which
lasted until 1948, other tribal leaders tried unsuccessfully to mediate,
but even the Rulers on both sides failed to restrain the beduin groups
from fighting, and had to dissociate themselves from them. Jabal al
Fayah and the Llwa area became the scenes of the most serious
fighting. The British Political Resident was altogether powerless to
intervene when the fighting occurred in the desert.
When, early in 1948, fifty-two Manasir were killed at Ruweihah
located between the Llwa and Abu Dhabi and many more were
wounded, the entire population of the coast became apprehensive at
the unprecedented scale of this war, and a movement to restore peace
became strong enough to bring about lasting agreements in 1948 and
1949 between all parlies concerned. The British authorities made use
of the general demand for peace, and more or less dictated the
frontier between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, drawn on the strength of
their own inquiries into tribal use of the area. For the first time the
British Government involved itself deliberately in affairs on land in
the Trucial States.

6 The Buraimi issue up to 1955
It was inevitable that as soon as PD (TC) exploration recommenced in
the late 1940s, this would lead to a revival of the dispute over the
entire length of the border between Abu Dhabi and the Kingdom of
302