Page 366 - UAE Truncal States

The Formation of the Federation
2 Local response to the new situation

Early stages in co-operation
While the withdrawal of the British military presence forced all the
Gulf States, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, to reconsider their
defence requirements, the January 1968 announcement meant that
Bahrain, Qatar and the Trucial Stales would soon have to conduct all
their external relations themselves. In some of these stales edu­
cational and development projects as well as much of the day-to-day
administration and internal security was run directly or indirectly
with British Government assistance. At the time of the surprise
announcement of the British intention to withdraw, few of the states
appreciated the formidable task of establishing at home viable
governmental machinery, while at the same time finding the right
balance in regional and global power politics. The problem of
security was obvious enough, and the legacy of unresolved territorial
disputes added to some Rulers’ problems. The immediate reaction to
the British announcement was disbelief because of recent British
assurances to the contrary, followed by apprehension when the truth
became clear.
The resultant state of mind among the Rulers certainly encouraged
them to draw more closely together, aided by some strong lobbying
on the part of the British Foreign Office. However, some British diplo­
mats were cynical because they had seen the recent failure of the
British-engineered South Arabian Federation.11
The Ruler of Bahrain, Shaikh Tsa bin Salman A1 Khallfah, was the
first of the Rulers to state publicly that the establishment of a
federation between the Gulf Emirates was “a national issue which
we will decide and which will not be decided by anyone for us.’’12 He
made official visits to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait during January and
February 1968 to discuss the future of the Gulf, while the Kuwaiti
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shaikh Sabah al Ahmad al Jabir A1
Sabah, demonstrated his country’s support for Gulf-wide co­
operation by visiting all (he Lower Gulf States at the end of January.
An important step towards realising some form of institutional
union resulted from the statesmanlike decisions of the two Rulers,
Shaikh Zayid of Abu Dhabi and Shaikh Rashid of Dubai. They met
on 18 February 1968 on the border between their two States and
formally agreed to merge the two shaikhdoms in a union, conducting
jointly foreign affairs, defence, security, and social services, and
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