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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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