Page 329 - UAE Truncal States_Neat

Chapter Eight

joint technical commission to investigate the tribal loyalties and the
sovereignties of the Rulers in the disputed areas, came to nothing. In
due course a round-table conference was held in Dammam in Saudi
Arabia in January/February 1952 on the proposal of the Amir Faisal
bin 'Abdul 'Aziz. The British delegation for this conference was led
by the Political Resident in the Gulf, Sir Rupert Hay, accompanied by
the Rulers of Abu Dhabi and Qatar.09 The conference was adjourned,
without agreement being reached, on 14 February 1952, never to be
re-convened.
In August 1952 the Shaikh of the Al Bu Shamis in Hamasah, one of
the three Omani villages of the Buraimi oasis, brought a contingent of
forty fidawis under the command of Turki bin 'Abdullah bin
'Utaishan from Saudi Arabia to Hamasah. Turki carried letters for
several of the tribal leaders of the area from the Governor of al Hasa,
inviting them to consider themselves as subjects of the King.70 When
the Sultan of Oman heard this he prepared for a military confron­
tation, and at the same time the Saudi contingent in Hamasah was
reinforced with men and vehicles. Armed confrontation was, how­
ever, avoided by a “standstill agreement” which was negotiated in
Jiddah between the Saudi and British Governments, with the
mediation of the US Ambassador in jiddah, in October 1952.71
In November 1952 the British Government voiced its view that,
because the disputed area was so large and the prospects of a
negotiated settlement seemed so remote, the question should be
submitted to an international court for arbitration. An agreement on
the terms of the arbitration was signed in Jiddah on 30 July 1954.72
The tribunal opened its hearings on 11 September 1955 in
Geneva.73 The members of the tribunal were Sir Reader Bullard, a
retired British diplomat and former Ambassador to Jiddah (1936-9);
Shaikh Yusuf Yasin, Deputy Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia; Dr
Ernesto de Dihigo from Cuba; and Mr Muhammad Hasan from
Pakistan. A former judge of the International Court of Justice, Dr
Charles de Visscher from Belgium, presided over the hearings.74 On
16 September the British member of the tribunal, Sir Reader Bullard,
resigned, accusing the Saudi member of partiality and improper
practices, alleging that the Saudis had, in contradiction to the
arbitration agreement, before, during and after the tribunal was
sitting, airlifted military supplies into Buraimi and continued to try
to win over the local tribal leaders by various means. This led to the
breakdown of the tribunal, which was never reconvened.
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