Page 375 - UAE Truncal States

Chapter Nina

Council of the nine Rulers met for the fifth lime in May 19(39. During
the interim period some progress was made towards unifying routine
administration in several working sessions of the specialised
committees and at three meetings of the Temporary Union Council.41

A period for clarifying bilateral relations
More important was that almost all the Rulers keenly sought to
clarify outstanding issues with their neighbours and with other
members of the Union. In early November 1968 the Rulers of Abu
Dhabi. Dubai and Qatar and the Crown Prince of Ra’s al Khaimah
went separately to Iran; a few weeks later the Deputy Ruler of Qatar,
Shaikh Khallfah bin Hamad, visited Iran again.42 The consequences
of British troop withdrawals as well as the Iranian reservations
about the proposed federation were among the topics of common
interest.43 The frontier agreement of February 1968 between Abu
Dhabi and Dubai was slightly amended in Dubai’s favour al talks
between some Rulers in a village on that border from 17 to 24
February 1969. This agreement, reached between the Rulers of Abu
Dhabi and Dubai, was witnessed by Shaikh Ahmad bin 'Ali, Ruler of
Qatar. The Ruler of Ra’s al Khaimah joined the meeting later in the
week44 and some outstanding issues were discussed.
After a three-day visit to Kuwait in March 1969, his first to an Arab
country since he became Ruler in 1966, Shaikh Zayid went to Qatar
to sign an agreement on the continental shelf between the two Stales,
and joint exploitation of the border-zone Bunduq oilfield. He also
visited the Ruler of Bahrain a day after the latter had declared that
Bahrain might “go it alone’’ and apply for UN membership if the
federation did not develop to Bahrain’s satisfaction.45
Qatar and Iran agreed to demarcate the limits of the continental
shelf between their two States on 7 April 1969. The almost 200-year-
old dispute between Qatar and Bahrain over territorial waters and
islands was also tackled at an official visit of the Qatari Ruler on 3 to
6 May 1969.

The Federation in suspension
The Rulers’ advisers and some members of the Temporary Union
Council met to try to settle as many as possible of the outstanding
differences of approach to the federation; but in spile of this and
other intensive diplomatic activity in the Gulf before the fifth meeting
of the Supreme Council of Rulers between 10 and 14 May 1969 in
Doha, this session made little headway.

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