Page 50 - The Origins of the United Arab Emirates_Neat

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The Origins of I he United Arab Emirates

theeBritish c “rreSPO"dCnC?, Wi'h °lhcr coumrics except through
r . • * vernmcni, and not to permit the residence of mv
to^cedc^sdl1 n^mo ^ B"Ush conscnl; lhcV a,so undertook not
exeem ,o mLr- . r?agC a"V part °f thcir respective territories
except t° the British Government. These agreements had the ellcet
^flairs'that lh.C. au.lho?ly of l|?c rulers in any of their internal
fe,, r nK ,m|,1?*e 0,1 r°rciSn relations. In 1899, following
cats of an Ottoman advance, coupled with rumours of a Russian
c aim to an outlet for a Meditcrrancan-to-Kuwait railway,29 an
agreement was signed with Kuwait.30 In it, the ruler, Mubarak
bin oabah Al-Sabah, undertook not to permit entry to the representa­
tives of any foreign powers and not to cede, sell, lease, mortgage
01 give foi occupation any part of his land to a foreign power
without the previous sanction of the British Government. In 1900
he agreed to suppress the arms trade,31 and in 1904 to accept
the establishment of a British post office in Kuwait.32 In 1914,
Kuwait was recognised as ‘an independent Government under British
protection \33
Thus, by the outbreak of the war, Kuwait, Bahrain and the
ITucial States were all firmly within the British sphere of influence.
The only shaykhdom on the Arab coast that was not was Qatar,
which had come under Ottoman domination in 1872 with the
occupation of Hasa. The Ottoman position was constantly regarded
as a threat to British interests in the Gulf, especially as Muhammad
bin Thani of Qatar had signed an agreement with Britain in 1868
in which he had undertaken not to commit any breach of the
maritime truce. Early in the twentieth century, the British authorities
discussed the possibility of concluding a regular treaty with Qatar,
but it was not until November 1916 that it was signed. Shaykh
‘Abdallah bin Qasim Al-Thani then undertook to guard Qatar
against slavery, piracy, the arms trade and concessions to foreigners,
in return for which Britain assured him of protection against all
aggression by sea, of Britain’s ‘good offices in case of an attack
by land.34 Apart from this latter undertaking, which was unique
to Qatar, the agreement was worded much the same as the agreements
with the Trucial shaykhdoms. . , , _ ... ,,
Other agreements included those of 1902 with the Trucial shayk 1-
doms wherebv their rulers undertook to prohibit the import and
export of arms;35 and those of 1911 with the Trucial States, Bahrain
and Kuwait, whereby their rulers promised not to grant pearling
or sponging concessions without the prior consent of the Bntish
Government.36 The most important new agreements, howevci, and
those that were radically to affect policy during the inter-war period
those that promised that no concessions for oil would be
were th° 1 appointed by the Bntish Government.
granted except to a person