Page 336 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

272 THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE ARABIAN GULF STATES
negotiations.1 During this period, the Kuwaiti authorities lodged com­
plaints against the Saudis who were accused of an extensive control
of administration in the Zone, to the detriment of the Kuwaiti right
of equal share in such administration. According to some reports, the
number of workers in the Zone in 1962 was estimated at 4000. The
Saudis formed 55 per cent of this working force; other Arabs were
25 per cent and the rest were foreigners, while there was not a single
Kuwaiti national working in the Zone. Kuwaiti authorities also com­
plained that labour disputes were being settled in accordance with
Saudi labour laws, irrespective of the nationalities of the workers or
the country from which they originally entered the Zone. Moreover,
they accused the Saudi authorities of sending directions to the oil
companies in the Zone requiring that each company should employ
not less than 75 per cent of Saudi workers. Consequently, the Kuwaitis
took certain measures aimed at strengthening their administrative
authority in the Zone, such as establishing new governmental offices
in the Zone similar to those already established by the Saudis.2 Such
unilateral actions on both sides had naturally complicated the system
of administration in the Zone. As Kuwait was also anxious to settle
the question of the islands of Qaru and Umm al-Maradim, she there­
fore offered sometime in 1961 to share equally with Saudi Arabia any
future oil proceeds accruing from the two islands, provided that Saudi
Arabia conceded their ownership to Kuwait. The Saudi Government,
however, preferred to defer this matter until the two parties reached
a final settlement on the demarcation of both the land and sea
boundaries of the Neutral Zone.3
As regards the land area of the Zone, it appears that at a conference
held in Kuwait, the two parties agreed, in principle, on the manner of
drawing the boundary line. It was also reported at the time that the
Saudis submitted to their Kuwaiti counterparts a plan for establishing
a system of joint administration in the Zone. This plan contemplated
the establishment of an administrative council in the Zone, composed
of two Saudis and two Kuwaitis who would be responsible directly to
the Governments of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, respectively. The
administrative Council reserved governmental powers in all fields
(i.e., security, justice, immigration, etc.). Further, the two Govern­
ments were to appoint an equal number of judges and officials in the
Zone. In short, the plan purported to establish a real condominium
system in the Zone. However, the Kuwaiti Government rejected the
above Saudi plan as being complicated and impractical. It took the
view that the Neutral Zone should be divided into two separate areas
1 MEES, No. 17, 28 February and No. 19, 13 March 1964; MEES, 27 March
1964.
2 The author’s private notes. And see MEES, 28 February, 13 and 27 March
1964. 3 MEES, No. 6, 13 September 1963.