Page 129 - UAE Truncal States

Chapter Three

as his permanent residence; il then became necessary to put someone
in charge of daily affairs in the Lfwa, which was several days’ camel
journey away. At the beginning of the 20th century the Ruler, Shaikh
Zayid bin KhalTfah, appointed his eldest son KhalTfah to be his
representative and to live in the Lfwa every summer during the date
harvest. When his brother Tahnun bin Zayid became the Ruler in
1909, a representative by the name of Bin Ya'aruf officiated in the
Lfwa and continued during the rule of Hamdan bin Zayid
(1912-1922). While Sultan bin Zayid was Ruler (1922-1926) Abu
Daham was wcili in the Lfwa, and he remained in office until the death
of the next Ruler, Saqr bin Zayid, in 1928.59 At times of war with
neighbouring Qatar and when raiding Saudi tribes threatened Abu
Dhabi’s western borders, a number of watch-towers overlooking the
approach routes (as on the island of Sir Bani Yas and at Ra’s
Ghumaish) were manned by tribesmen. During the rule of Zayid bin
KhalTfah their commander (amir al jaish) was Suwaidan bin Za’al al
Mahairibi, and until many of the members of this Bani Yas sub-tribe
dispersed to neighbouring countries in the 1950s, the sons and
grandsons of Suwaidan appear to have maintained a prominent
position and obtained payment for their services from the Ruler.
Shaikh Shakhbut’s first wcili in the Lfwa was Hilal bin Sa'fd al
GhafTri, an Al Bu Falah, who was replaced in 1949 by Ahmad bin
Fadil al Mazru'i of the Bani Yas. In 1955 Rashid bin Jabir al Hamili
was appointed to the Lfwa.
Rashid bin Jabir was succeeded in 1964 by Saif bin Musa al-
Ilamili, who still in the early 1980s looked after the affairs of the
inhabitants in the Liwa villages. As in past generations the present
amir’s residence is in al Mariyah, which is not among the few fortified
settlements in the Lfwa. Like all other houses in the Lfwa until about
1977, when the first concrete buildings went up, the government post
in al Mariyah was a palm-frond hut on a gentle sand dune,
distinguishable only by the flagpole outside and a few rifles in
canvas bags inside, ready for use by the handful of part-time tribal
'askars who are attached to the post. Each of the larger villages has
also always had its headman, who would act as spokesman and
receive visitors who might be passing by.
When during the final years of the 1960s Bida' Zayid was built,
some 40 kilometres north of the Lfwa, as a modern centre where the
population of Dhafrah could obtain medical facilities and formal
schooling, the amir of the Lfwa established a second residence there.

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