Page 424 - UAE Truncal States

The Formation of the Federation

the UAE can cope with such events and with domestic tensions in the
future.

An issue of democracy?
Events in Iran during late 1978 and early 1979 could not fail to have
an effect on the political scene in the UAE. One result was an
increasing political awareness, with the emphasis on improvement of
the existing structure of government rather than on any fundamental
changes. The criticism that the Supreme Council of Rulers, the
country’s highest legislative and executive body, was practically
immobilising effective government by meeting too infrequently and
by its ponderous ways of proceeding, was made publicly for the first
time. This criticism took the form of a memorandum prepared by
members of the Federal National Council and the Cabinet.164
On 13 February 1979 the parliamentary body, the Federal National
Council, and the Council of Ministers held a joint session to discuss
the developments in the region and their impact on the UAE. They
decided to submit to the Supreme Council recommendations for
consolidating the Federation. Although the seven Rulers had all met
together several times over the previous few years, they had not had a
formal meeting of the Supreme Council since November 1976. On 20
March the Supreme Council of Rulers met in Abu Dhabi for what was
widely expected to be a crucial session; on the agenda were the
discussion of the memorandum as well as the stand to be taken
regarding the imminent peace agreement between Egypt and Israel.
Predictably the memorandum dealt with the problems which had
over the previous eight years become, in the eyes of many people,
recognisable obstacles to a more satisfactory functioning of the
federal State. The opening paragraph spelled out the urgency of the
authors’ concern by saying ‘‘National interest makes it obligatory for
the concerned relevant authorities in the UAE to perceive the
dimensions of the changes taking place in the region and their
possible repercussions on the UAE so as to make sincere efforts for
solving internal problems in the interests of the country’s stab­
ility.”185 The first of the eleven points called for the unification of the
armed forces and an end to arms imports by individual Emirates’
governments. Another important aspect was the memorandum’s call
for the abolition of all internal borders between Emirates, which
implied abolishing the individual Emirate’s authority over the
national resources within its territory. Better and countrywide
397