Page 327 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

LAND BOUNDARIES 263
which Qatar has laid a claim.1 The British Government has in the
meantime made unsuccessful attempts to pave the way for a mutually
agreed settlement of the Abu Dhabi-Qatar frontiers. It is assumed that
the British Government would not object to ‘the extension of the
Qatar boundary south to the vicinity of al-rUdaia,’ but without taking
it in.2
As regards Saudi Arabia's boundary dispute with both Qatar and
Abu Dhabi, the former ‘claims the southern shore of the Arabian
Gulf westerly from a point between al-Mughairah and al-Marfa on
the coast of the Dhafrah to a point on the southeastern coast of the
Qatar peninsula’.3
The British Government, acting on behalf of the Rulers of Abu
Dhabi and Qatar, has contested this claim.4 However, although the
Qatar-Saudi Arabia boundary has been considered in dispute, recent
reports indicate that an amicable settlement of the dispute has been
reached by an agreement signed in December 1965, between the Crown
Prince of Qatar, on behalf of the Government of Qatar, and the Saudi
Minister of Petroleum, on behalf of the Saudi Government. The
terms of the agreement have not been published, but they purport to
delimit both the land and sea boundaries of the two countries. It is
understood that the British Government—contrary to its usual practice
in such matters affecting the foreign relations of one of its protected
Rulers—did not apparently take part in the conclusion of this agree­
ment.5 It did, however, subsequently notify the Saudi Government
that it does not recognise the validity of this agreement in so far as it
affects the rights of a third party, namely, Abu Dhabi, over the terri­
tory demarcated.6
(b) Boundary disputes of the Trucial Shaikhdoms: These Shaikhdoms
stretching eastwards from the base of the Qatar peninsula to the coast
of the Gulf of Oman also have problems relating to their common
frontiers. These problems arc complicated by the fact that no recorded
data exists about where the territory of each Shaikhdom begins and
ends. Local investigation has been going on for some time by British
experts with a view to the delimitation of the boundary of each
Shaikhdom, but not much progress on this matter has so far been
achieved.7 Meanwhile, the Ruler of Abu Dhabi, for instance, claims
1 Lorimer, pp. 766, 818-20; Hay, The Persian Gulf States, p. 107.
2 Arabian American Oil Company, Oman and the Southern Shore of the Persian
Gulf (1952) p. 185.
3 Ibid. And see above, p. 200. 4 Ibid. And see above, pp. 200-1.
6 The agreement has not been published. For press reports, see MEES, No. 6,
10 December 1965.
6 Information supplied to the author from a private source.
7 Although tentative plans for the demarcation of the land and sea boundaries
of the Trucial Shaikhdoms have been almost completed by the British Foreign