Page 383 - UAE Truncal States_Neat
P. 383

Chapter Nine

                  Attempts at mediation
                  Being very anxious to keep Bahrain in the federation, Abu Dhabi  was
                  first off the mark trying to make it change its stance. At the beginning
                  of November Shaikh Zayid sent two envoys to Kuwait to explain lo
                  the Foreign Minister the position of Abu Dhabi and to enlist Kuwait’s
                  help as mediator. They arrived in Bahrain from Kuwait on 5
                  November and met with the Ruler, Shaikh 'Isa. On 21 November 1970
                  a Saudi delegation headed by Prince Nawaf bin 'Abdul 'Azfz went to
                  Kuwait lo discuss the breakdown of the federation talks; he stressed
                  that Saudi Arabia was strongly in favour of a nine-member
                  federation.
                    Meanwhile Bahrain, taking counsel from Britain, refrained from
                  declaring independence at the Rulers accession anniversary on 16
                  December 1970, but a constitution was promised on that day with a
                  hint that there might be elections in Bahrain to enable every “citizen
                  to shoulder his responsibility to serve his country.”80
                    Even after the conclusion of Sir William Luce’s second tour of the
                  Gulf in October 1970, the British Government did not slate whether
                  the plan to withdraw or the timetable set out for this would be
                  followed.01 The Rulers however were probably well aware that the
                  Conservative Government was also preparing for an early end to the
                  British protective role in the Gulf. In a message not unlike the one
                  sent to the assembled Rulers in October 1969 by the British Political
                  Resident in the Gulf under a Labour Government, the Conservative
                  Foreign Secretary, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, strongly advised the nine
                  Rulers to go on with building the federation, saying that their
                  “continued inability to decide on a federal structure now seriously
                  threatened international credibility of its future success.”82
                  Omani participation in the federation?
                  On 24 July 1970 a completely new dimension opened for the
                  federation when Sa'Id bin Taimur was replaced by his son Qabus as
                  Sultan of neighbouring Oman. Although the logistics of integrating
                  the large and very different country would have been formidable, the
                  idea to include Oman in the federation appealed at least to some of
                  the nine-member Emirates. Shaikh Zayid, Ruler of Abu Dhabi, was
                  the first to make personal contact with the new Sultan in a
                  spontaneous visit to Muscat on 9 August. The new regime in Oman
                  was  probably nowhere greeted with more genuine joy and relief than   ;
                  in Abu Dhabi. The many changes which took place during the first
                 358                                                               i
   378   379   380   381   382   383   384   385   386   387   388