Page 225 - The Origins of the United Arab Emirates_Neat

The Emergence of the United Arab Emirates '9»

British representative on the Coast had done, and acceptance of
his role became a precondition for Britisli recognition of the rulers.
A defence force, under the Foreign OfTicc, was created in 1951;
called the Trucial Oman Levies (later, Scouts), it was run by
British officers with British equipment, although a few Arabs were
recruited into it.
During the two decades following World War II, many seeds
that had been sown during the inter-war period grew into issues
of indisputable importance. The most outstanding of these was
that of frontiers, over the definition of which there was much
disputation and uncertainty. Despite the 1937 agreement between
Abu Dhabi and Dubai regarding their mutual frontiers, a prolonged
war took place between them from 1945 to 1948, both their rulers
having become well aware of the importance of every square inch
of land. Shaykh Sa‘id of Dubai claimed Khawr Ghanadah as the
coastal boundary between the two shaykhdoms, while Shaykh Shakh-
but of Abu Dhabi claimed Jabal al-Jubayl, about twenty-five miles
north of Ghanadah, as his dividing line. Both men belonged to
the Bani Yas, but there had never been much of an affinity between
them or the states that they ruled over. Abu Dhabi covered a
much larger area than Dubai, and its ruler consequently was primar­
ily concerned with the extension of his influence over neighbouring
tribes. Dubai was a commercial centre consisting of little more
than Dubai town and a few water wells. Shaykh Sa‘id was more
urbanised than Shakhbut, of whom he was scornful, and in 1937
he confided to the Political Agent in Bahrain his opinion of Shakhbut
as ‘an obstinate bedu’ who, ‘if he would not listen to reason
[over the territorial dispute] . . . could “go to hell’”.2
In 1945, when Dubai sent a large force to claim Ghanadah,
both shaykhdoms prepared for a major conflict along the coast;
but the Political Resident intervened and reminded both rulers
of their commitments to desist from any form of maritime warfare.
The conflict was therefore carried inland, where Shakhbut’s tribesmen
displayed their loyalty, and Sa‘id was eventually forced to admit
defeat, despite his attempt to buy the loyalty of the Bani Qitab
tribe.3 He finally recognised Shakhbut’s sovereignty over Ghanadah,
at the same time agreeing to pay blood-money for the men killed
by his faction and to return all the weapons seized during the
fighting. Although the truce, which the British authorities helped
to bring about, was accepted by both sides, and no further outbreaks
of violence occurred between them, the innate rivalry of the two
shaykhdoms continued to grow, strengthened by the different course
each had chosen. Abu Dhabi’s leadership over the inland tribes
became generally recognised, and was strengthened after 1948, when
Shakhbut’s brother Zayid became his wali in the Buraimi oasis,