Page 226 - The Origins of the United Arab Emirates_Neat

.
192 The Origins of the United Arab Emirates

succeeding Ibrahim ibn ‘Uthman. Zayid was respected and trusted
by the bedouin, and did much to improve conditions in the oasis.
Dubai, by contrast, was totally preoccupied with the development
and emergence of its port as the only one on the Trucial Coast,
especially as Sultan bin Saqr of Sharjah did nothing to prevent the
I silting of his. The differences between Dubai and Abu Dhabi continue
today, but, in the face of greater threats, they have managed to
override them and often present a surprisingly united stand.
The principal boundary dispute after World War II was, of
course, that concerning Buraimi. The Anglo-Saudi negotiations of
the 1930s having come to nothing, and the suggestion that Shakhbut
be ‘induced’ to lease Khawr al-‘Udayd to Saudi Arabia having
been discarded, in 1949 all the earlier fears of Saudi encroachment
were realised. Early in the year, Aramco exploratory parties began
field work in the Sabkhat Matti area of Abu Dhabi and around
the ‘Udayd peninsula, near Khawr al-‘Udayd. The British Govern­
ment protested, saying that the area belonged to Abu Dhabi. A
few months later, the Saudi Government officially laid claim to
most of the Dafrah, thus claiming considerably more than it had
in 1935, when it had proposed the Fu’ad Line. The British Govern­
ment rejected the claim, and tried to revert to the old Blue Line
of 1913, which, needless to say, Saudi Arabia refused to accept.
Despite a number of diplomatic attempts to solve the crisis,
the Saudi Government went forward in its claim, and in August
1952 an armed force arrived in Hamasah in Buraimi. Saudi Arabia
til
claimed that Buraimi was independent of any government, and
therefore that Britain had no case for interference. The Trucial
Oman Levies were called in, and, helped by the RAF, produced
a stalemate; as a result, it was agreed between the contenders
that further negotiations should take place and that for the duration
of them all military action in the oasis should cease. These negotia­
tions took the following form: in 1955 both sides presented to
an international tribunal memorials detailing, as a basis for decision,
tribal loyalties, past and present, and their influence on the jurisdiction
of Buraimi.4 But, in the wake of dramatic accusations, the proceedings
broke down, when the British representative, Sir Reader Bullard,
who had served as British Minister in Jeddah during the Anglo-Saudi
conversations of the 1930s, resigned in protest at the behaviour
of his Saudi counterpart, Yusuf Yasin.
Once again, negotiations had come to nothing, and force was
again employed. In the latter part of 1955, the Trucial Oman
Levies dislodged the Saudi force from Hamasah, and the British
Government made it clear that it regarded Abu Dhabi’s boundaries
as consistent with the Ryan Line of 1935. But Abu Dhabi was
full possession of Buraimi. The sultanate of Muscat and
not given