Page 263 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

BRITISH—SAUDI CONTROVERSY OVER BURAIMI 201
of Saudi Arabia and these Shaikhdoms shall be agreed upon between the
Saudi Arabian Government and the Shaikhdoms referred to.1
The British Government's reaction to the above Saudi proposal was
conveyed in a Note dated 30 November 1949, in which it rejected the
new Saudi frontier claim and stated, inter alia:
His Majesty’s Government feel that they have no option but to take up
their position on the basis of the legal claim, namely, the ‘Blue Line’ and
the ‘Violet Line’ as defined by the Anglo-Turkish Conventions of the
29th July, 1913 and the 9th March, 1914.-
Further, the Note disputed the Saudi claim to ‘the Oasis of Liwa and
other areas previously admitted to belong to Abu Dhabi’. With
reference to Buraimi, it stated that
here the claims of the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi give His Majesty's Government
an undoubted right to negotiate on his behalf. His Highness the Sultan of
Muscat claims that the areas south of Buraimi arc under his authority and
he has asked His Majesty’s Government ... to represent him in these
negotiations.3
In an attempt to reconcile their differences, the British and the
Saudi Governments agreed in 1951 to hold a conference at London.
The only useful outcome of the London Conference, which took place
between S-24 August 1951, was that the parties agreed to call for a
round table conference in Saudi Arabia, comprising, in addition to
British and Saudi representatives, the Rulers of the Shaikhdoms in­
volved in the boundary dispute.4
The Dammam Conference, 1952
In this conference much of the discussion was based on historical
allegiance of the tribes in the disputed areas, particularly al-Manasir,
Al-Murrah and Bani Yas. The collection of zakah, a religious tax, by
Saudi Arabia or Abu Dhabi in the areas was often relied upon as a
basis of the disputing parties’ claims. The British delegation expressed
their willingness to consider the Saudi 1935 proposal, Fuad's Line,
as representing the Saudi Government’s official view. But the Saudi
delegation denied the validity of that proposal, which, they said, was
only offered as a compromise which, having been rejected by the
1 Saudi Memorial, II, Annex 26, The Government of Saudi Arabia to the
Government of the United Kingdom, 14 October 1949. See Map 2.
2 British Memorial, Annex D, No. 27, H.M. Embassy at Jiddah to the Saudi
Arabian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 30 November 1949.
3 Ibid. The Saudi Government replied to the above communication saying that
i
it was impossible for it to adhere to ‘the so-called Blue and Violet Lines’. See Saudi
Memorial, II, Annex 28, The Government of Saudi Arabia to the Government of
the United Kingdom, 10 December 1949.
4 Saudi Memorial, II, Annexes 43-5, Records of London Conference, August
20-3, 1951.