Page 199 - The Persian Gulf Historical Summaries (1907-1953) Vol II

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- . . 41. . ,The 011 company, viz., Petroleum Development (Oman and Dhofar)
Limited (paragraph 60 below), started exploration in the area in November 1938
One party of geologists set out from the Batinah Coast and visited Yanqul. the
Jabal Haul and Buraimi, and another proceeded from Sharjah via Abu Dhabi
territory to Buraimi and the Jabal Halit. T hey found the Shaikhs impossible to
negotiate with and after surveying a small area both parlies withdrew. In 1939
the company negotiated with the Ruler of Abu Dhabi for another visit to the
area but as these negotiations proved unsuccessful they approached the Sultan.
The Sultan gave his consent to the expedition provided motor transport was not
used and entry was made to the area from his territory and not from Abu Dhabi.
The company made the ban on motor vehicles an excuse for abandoning the
enterprise. In 1946 a representative of the company paid a brief visit to Buraimi
from the Trucial Coast to establish food and petrol dumps but apart from this no
further attempts was made to penetrate the area until 1948 when a representative
of the company without consulting the Sultan entered into agreements with some
of the Shaikhs for the exploration of their territory in return for cash payments.
When the Sultan heard of this he was very angry. A modus vivendi was eventually
reached with him but he asked that action should be postponed until the following
year. In 1949 the company’s representative again visited the Buraimi area and
the Sultan sent his Minister of the Interior with him. Negotiations broke down
owing to the exorbitant demands of Shaikh Saqr of the Na’im and the fact that
the shaikhs refused to accord the Sultan’s representative any facilities or to enter
into any agreement in which the Sultan's sovereignty over their territory was
recognised. In 1952 the company made plans for another visit to the Buraimi
area and drafted an agreement which they proposed to negotiate with the Shaikhs
after consultation with the Sultan but they abandoned their proposal when Turki
established himself at Hamasah. The company have no great hopes of finding
oil in the area but wish to obtain access through it to more promising country
further south.
42. In 1952 the AI bu Shamis, Shaikh of Hamasah in Buraimi and a Baluch
Shaikh from the Dhahirah visited Riyadh and on their return hoisted the Saudi
flag and started to issue Saudi travel documents. Two or three of the other Shaikhs
thereupon visited the Political Officer at Sharjah and demanded that Her Majesty’s
Government and the oil company should enter into direct relations with them.
On failing to obtain a satisfactory reply they went to Riyadh. On August 31
Turki bin Ataishan, who had been the Saudi Amir at Ras Tanurah, arrived at
Hamasah with an armed escort of about 40 men and established himself as the
Saudi Amir there. Thereupon all the leading Shaikhs declared their allegiance
to Ibn Saud, except a few at the southern end of the Dhahirah, who were under
the influence of the Sultan or the Imam, and Saqr bin Sultan the Na’im Shaikh
at Buraimi village. The Sultan sent a small force to support Saqr and also gave
him some financial assistance. With the encouragement of Her Majesty’s
Government the Sultan collected a large tribal force in the Batinah to deal with
the tribes who had gone over to the Saudis and to assert his authority over the
Buraimi area. He obtained the co-operation of the Imam who assembled a
smaller force at Ibri (paragraph 38 above). By the middle of October however
when he was ready to move forward he was asked to hold his hand as negotiations
with the Saudis for the settlement of the dispute by arbitration were in hand and
it was feared that an advance by him in Buraimi might provoke a general conflict.
He at once complied but has seized the occasion to saddle Her Majesty’s
Government with responsibility for all subsequent developments and in future
when urged to assert his authority over the tribes will be able to plead that when
he attempts to do so he is not permitted.
43. As in the case of Central Oman, Her Majesty’s Government have from
time to time considered a proposal to enter into direct relations with the tribes ol
the area and have rejected it for the same reasons (paragraph 32 above). Until
recently however, the Bani Ka’ab of Mahadhah have not been regarded as being
on the same footing as the other tribes. So far as is known the Sultan made no
Haim to sovereignty over this tribe until 1926 when Mr. Bertram Thomas states

declaration of allegiance by their leading Shaikh Obaid bin Juma. In spite of this.
(“) “ Alarms and Excursions in Arabia,” p. 165.