Page 107 - The Origins of the United Arab Emirates_Neat

Saudi Arabia and Iran: Outside Pressures a3

about a truce, after which the Bani Yas and the rest of the Mazari
returned to Dafrah.
In 1922, after the accession of Sultan bin Zayid, fighting broke
out again. Sultan, at a disadvantage because his murdered predecessor
had been an ally of the Wahhabis, reportedly having helped zakat
collectors, became involved. This time the Manasir were fighting
the Duru‘, the Bani Qitab and the ‘Awamir in Buraimi, and Sultan
was expected to protect the Manasir from their enemies in exchange
for protection of Abu Dhabi town by them.33 He found that his
authority in Buraimi was at a low ebb. In December 1923 he I
sent his brother Saqr, together with his own sons Shakhbut and
Hazza*, at the head of a mixed Abu Dhabi and Manasir force
to al-Mu‘tarid, a village in Buraimi populated largely by the Dawahir
and under the authority of the ruler of Abu Dhabi; there the
forces of the interior were to assemble, and, when all was ready, ■
Sultan would join them. News of the expedition reached the Duru‘
of Tun‘um, the Bani Qitab of al-Falayah (a village in the plain
of Sir, a few miles south of Ras al-Khaimah town), and the ‘Awamir
bedouin, whose range was coextensive with the Duru‘ lands; they l
in turn raised a force of 200 men and marched to meet Saqr’s
party. They came across twenty men who were on their way to 5
join the Abu Dhabi force, and killed seven of them, including
Sa‘id bin Butti of the Qubaysat, a relative of Sultan; the rest P
of the twenty surrendered, were disarmed and dispossessed. :
When Sultan reached al-Mu‘tarid, he gathered 500 men under
the joint leadership of his brother Saqr and Rashid bin Mani‘,
shaykh of the Al-bu-Mundhir section of the Manasir. This force
attacked al-Falayah.34 In retaliation, Sultan’s villages in Buraimi
were attacked; and, in response to this, Sultan’s force raided Duru‘
land and captured fifty she-camels. The Duru* understood that
men from Dubai had participated in this last move, so breaching
a covenant whereby Dubai and the Duru‘ each agreed to remain
neutral where the other was fighting a third party. The Duru‘
therefore stole twelve she-camels from the outskirts of Dubai.
These endless skirmishes exposed the entire Coast to danger,
and placed the pearl trade in serious jeopardy. In order to guard
it from any further disruption, a band of conciliators comprising
Shaykh Salim bin Duyayn35 of the Bani Ka‘b, Hamad bin Ahmad
al-Yahyayyi of the Al-bu-Shamis and chief of Dhank, and Sultan
bin Rashid,36 shaykh of ‘Ibri, intervened, and peace was declared.
The peace did not last long, however, for late in February 1925
the Manasir and the Bani Yas, much to the chagrin of Sultan,
raided the homes of some of the ‘Awamir living near the dirah
of the Bani Qitab, in the desert, killing a man and making off
to Liwa with a slave and three camels.