Page 337 - UAE Truncal States
P. 337

Chapter Eight

                 coaslal towns, particularly Dubai, from Hamasah in the Buraimi
                 oasis, to be shipped north across the Gulf. Probably the   most
                 compelling reason for the British Government to involve itself in the
                 problem of security in IheTrucial Stales, to the extent of setting up a
                 British-officered force, was the odium attached to the slave trade,
                 which had again become very profitable during the late 1940s. News
                 of incidents in which former slaves from Africa and Baluchistan and
                 even free people were taken to Hamasah, and sold to be domestic
                 servants in Saudi Arabia,90 had leaked out. Britain, already  some-
                 what on the defensive before a world audience which had made anti­
                 colonialism and the responsibility of former colonial powers for
                 newly independent States a burning issue, fell compelled to concern
                 itself with these internal matters in those Stales for which she was
                 responsible in the eyes of the outside world.
                   If exploration for oil was to commence seriously in the country, the
                 security of the Europeans involved had to be guaranteed. Similarly, if
                 the country was to be gradually modernised, the hinterland as well
                 as the coastal settlements had to be made secure enough for
                 development to be carried out. A security force, initially called the
                 Trucial Oman Levies (the name was changed to Trucial Oman Scouts
                 in 1956), was established by the King’s Regulation No. 1 of 1951
                 under article 82 of the Trucial States Order in Council of 1950. The
                 duty of the force was to maintain peace and good order in any part of
                 the Trucial Stales, particularly outside the coastal towns, and to
                 provide an escort for the British representative.91 Because the latter
                 lived in Sharjah at the lime when this force was created, it seemed to
                 be the most logical location for the headquarters of the TOL. The first
                 commander, Major Hankin Turvin, was seconded from the Arab
                 Legion with two Jordanian officers and several other ranks. Most of
                 the soldiers were initially recruited from among the people of the
                Trucial States to whom the steady income and the prospect of
                 training were considerable incentives during the 1950s. Of the 200
                men in the force in 1953 many belonged to Abu Dhabi tribes, because
                 Shaikh Zayid bin Sultan, the Ruler’s wali in the Buraimi area, who
                had a great deal of influence with the tribes, encouraged enrolment
                and supported the TOL. During the 1960s recruitment for the TOS in
                Abu Dhabi proved rather less successful because the oil company
                paid considerably more and the men could more easily leave the
                company  at their convenience, whereas this was not so with the
                force.
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