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The exiled prisoners departed on HMS Loch Insh on 28 December and were

not initially informed of their final destination, nor was it publically known. The

majority of ordinary Bahrainis believed that the prisoners were headed to the

Seychelles. 880

In the wider world, the Omega Plan’s death certificate was proclaimed on 5

January 1957 when American President Eisenhower announced to Congress his

initiative to counter Soviet penetration in the Middle East that came to be known as

the ‘Eisenhower Doctrine’. 881 The President’s plan was to contain Nasser’s

ambitions through the Soviet Union and to assist in the economic development of

Middle Eastern nations in order to sustain their independence, to offer military

assistance, and the utilisation of American armed forces in the Middle East, to

defend it from ‘armed aggression from any nation controlled by International

Communism’. 882 On 9 January Eden submitted his resignation to HM the Queen,

sighting ill-health as the cause. 883 Macmillan succeeded Eden as Prime Minister. 884

The three Bahraini prisoners reached St Helena on 27 January. 885 Sir James D

Harford the Governor of the island, proposed keeping the prisoners confined to one

location and for them not to be held incommunicado. The three asked for pocket

880 TNA, FO 1016/550, Gault to Burrows, 17 January 1957.
881 For information on the Eisenhower Doctrine see Takehy, Origins of the Eisenhower Doctrine; and
Yaqub, Containing Arab Nationalism.
882 D.D. Eisenhower, Eisenhower Doctrine, 5 January 1957
<https://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/education/bsa/citizenship_merit_badge/speeches_national_
historical_importance/eisenhower_doctrine.pdf> [accessed 15 February 2016].
883 D. Marks, ‘Eden Resigns’, Daily Express, 10 January 1957, 1.
884 ‘Mr. Macmillan becomes Prime Minister’, The Times, 11 January 1957, 8.
885 Al-Bakir, From Bahrain to Exile, 311.

© Hamad E. Abdulla 280