Federation of Arab Emirates اتحاد الامارات العربية | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968–1971 | |||||||||||||||||
 Proposed flag of nine-pointed stars | |||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||
| Status | Political union | ||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Al Karama (proposed) | ||||||||||||||||
| Largest city | Abu Dhabi | ||||||||||||||||
| Official languages | Arabic | ||||||||||||||||
| Common languages | Emirati Arabic Bahraini Arabic Qatari Arabic | ||||||||||||||||
| Establishment | |||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||
• Dubai Accord | 27 February 1968 | ||||||||||||||||
• Signing of theProvisional Constitution of the United Arab Emirates | 18 July 1971 | ||||||||||||||||
• Bahraini Declaration of Independence | 15 August 1971 | ||||||||||||||||
| Currency | Gulf rupee Bahraini dinar Qatari riyal Saudi riyal | ||||||||||||||||
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| Today part of | |||||||||||||||||
TheFederation of Arab Emirates (FAE) (Arabic:اتحاد الامارات العربية), also sometimesUnion of Arab Emirates,[1] was a proposed sovereign federal union of nine sheikhdoms of Britain'sPersian Gulf Residency, comprisingBahrain,Qatar and the rest of seven emirates of theTrucial States, namelyAbu Dhabi,Dubai,Umm Al Quwain,Ajman,Sharjah,Ras Al Khaimah andFujairah.[2][3] The union existed during much of theunification of the United Arab Emirates and came into being as a semblance of a transitional government in February 1968 following a meeting between the leaders of these emirates in less than two months after the British decision of withdrawal was announced. However, several disagreements between the leaders due to political and economic reasons led to the dissolution of the union whenBahrain andQatar announced their respective independence by August and September 1971 whereas the rest of theTrucial States (with the temporary exception ofRas Al Khaimah) went on to form theUnited Arab Emirates in December 1971.[4]
According to Dr. Emile Nakhleh, the-then associate professor of political science atMount Saint Mary's College and Seminary, in his bookArab-American Relations in the Persian Gulf, said several factors led to its disintegration.[5] such as the federal structure being a hurried reaction to the announced British withdrawal, and the call for federation was prompted by leaders of the individual emirates determined to preserve their rule, unresolved disputes still outstanding, the most important of which was the one between Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi over theBuraimi oasis and the disparities in wealth, education and population among the emirates that added fuel to the fire.[5]
Following the expulsion of the Portuguese from Bahrain in 1602, theAl Qasimi, the tribes extending from theQatari Peninsula to theRas Musandam, adopted maritime raiding as a way of life due to the lack of any maritime authority in the area.[6] The attacks surged in the beginning of 19th century.
In the aftermath of a series of attacks in 1808 off the coastSindh involving 50 Qasimi raiders and following the 1809 monsoon season, the British East India Company, with thenaval support of the British government, launchedan operation against the Al Qasimi tribe rulingRas Al Khaimah in 1809.[7][8] An agreement was reached between the Al Qasimi and the British with regards to maritime security, however, the agreement broke down in 1815. In 1815, the crew of a British Indian vessel were captured by Qawasim near Muscat and most of the crew were murdered. Then, on 6 January Al Qasimi captured an armedpattamar, theDeriah Dowlut, off the coast ofDwarka and murdered 17 of its 38 Indian crew. In the Red Sea, in 1816, three British-flagged Indian merchant vessels from Surat were taken and most of the crews killed.
As piracy resumed, the British returned in 1819 with apunitive expedition against the maritime force of Al Qasimi, which was now split into two emirates, one the Wahhabi-backedRas Al Khaimah and other inSharjah andLengeh.[9] The British devastated Ras Al Khaimah and ended up deposingHassan bin Rahma Al Qasimi from power before signing theGeneral Maritime Treaty of 1820 with the rulers ofAbu Dhabi,Sharjah,Ajman,Umm Al Quwain,Ras Al Khaimah. In 1853, the treaty ofPerpetual Maritime Truce was signed which prohibited any act of aggression at sea and was signed byAbdulla bin Rashid Al Mualla of Umm Al Quwain;Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi of Ajman;Saeed bin Butti of Dubai;Saeed bin Tahnun Al Nahyan andSultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi.[10]
In response to the ambitions of France and Russia, Britain and the Trucial Sheikhdoms established closer bonds in an 1892 treaty,[11] sheikhs agreed not to dispose of any territory except to Britain and not to enter into relationships with any other foreign government without Britain's consent. In return, the British promised to protect the Trucial Coast from all aggression by sea and to help in case of land attack.[12]
The Trucial States Council was a forum for the leaders of the emirates to meet, presided over by the BritishPolitical Agent. The first meetings took place in 1952, one in spring and one in autumn, and this set a pattern for meetings in future years.[13] The council was purely consultative and had no written constitution and no policy making powers, it provided more than anything a forum for the rulers to exchange views and agree on common approaches. The British managed to provoke considerable irritation amongst the rulers, especially Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah, when the ruler of Fujairah, recognised as a Trucial State by Britain on 21 March 1952, attended his first Trucial States Council.[14]
The idea of a federation between theTrucial States was first floated in the late 1950s byMichael Wright, the British ambassador to Iraq. However, it was rejected as 'fanciful' byBernard Burrows, the political resident.[15]
By 1958, committees were set up to advise on public health, agriculture and education, but the council had no funding until 1965, when the chairmanship moved from the Political Agent to one of the rulers, the first chairman being Shaikh Saqr bin Mohammed Al Qasimi of Ras Al Khaimah.[16] One issue which came up regularly in the council's first 14 meetings was that oflocusts—the swarms were highly destructive to the agriculture of the whole area—but theBedouin of the interior were convinced the spraying ofinsecticide would be detrimental to their herds and resisted the teams brought in fromPakistan to spray the insects' breeding grounds.[17]
In 1965 the council was given a grant by the British to administer as it saw fit, instead of merely advising on British-prepared budgets. A full-time secretariat was also recruited.[16]
In 1967, oil was discovered in theZararah oil field in south ofLiwa Oasis andKing Faisal had again claimed the area as part ofSaudi Arabia in 1970.Faisal offered to resolve the dispute by relinquishing claims onAl Ain andBuraimi in exchange for assuming total control overZararah andKhor Al Adaid. He also requestedZayed to halt the drilling by theAbu Dhabi Petroleum Company inZararah while discussions are underway.
Zayed, however, tried to resist the Saudi pressure as theoasis had been the center of theemirate'seastern province and its capital,Al Ain. ForFaisal, it was an issue of pride and honor and a reminder of pastNajdi Wahhabi glories underFirst andSecond Saudi states during 18th and 19th centuries.[18]
British Prime MinisterHarold Wilson's announcement, in January 1968, that all British troops were to be withdrawn from "east of Suez", signalled the end of Britain taking care of foreign policy and defence, as well as arbitrating between the rulers of the Eastern Persian Gulf.[19]
The decision pitched the rulers of theTrucial Coast, together with Qatar and Bahrain, into fevered negotiations to fill the political vacuum that the British withdrawal would leave behind.[20] A month later on 18 February 1968,Sheikh Zayed al-Nahyan met withSheikh Rashid bin Saeed al-Maktoum and signed a union agreement betweenAbu Dhabi andDubai, a turning point in the history of theGulf considered as the prelude to the unification of theUnited Arab Emirates. Less than ten days later, leaders of the sheikhdoms met in Dubai and signed the Dubai Accord on 27 February 1968 for the creation of the Federation of Arab Emirates, that also includedBahrain andQatar with a joint foreign policy, defense and citizenship.[21][22] The accord outlined the system of governance where the leadership would be chosen in a pattern of annual rotations.
The first meeting of the Supreme Council of the Federation of Arab Emirates was convened in Abu Dhabi in March 1968.[23] The meeting was intended to exchange consultations with regards to the implementation of the Dubai Accord. Further meeting was convened in Abu Dhabi in May and July 1968 in order to reach an agreement on the basis of the previous meeting.[24]Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani was elected as the chairman of the provisional federal council whereas Sheikh Zayed was nominated as the president.[25] In October 1968, the second meeting was convened andSheikh Ahmad bin Ali Al Thani was elected as the chairman of the Supreme Council.[26]
The members of the Supreme Council met in May 1969 inDoha to discuss the shape of the constitution.[27] They agreed to set up a cabinet, but failed to elect a ruler.[28] The meeting was also politically affected by the tour of then British prime ministerEdward Heath to the Gulf states.[29] In the meeting,Sheikh Ahmad bin Ali was reelected as the chairman of the Supreme Council.[27]
In October 1969, the rulers of the nine emirates met for the last time inAbu Dhabi and electedSheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan as the president,Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed al-Maktoum as vice president andSheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani as the prime minister of a thirteen-member committee of the proposed federation besides the future of the capital located somewhere betweenAbu Dhabi andDubai, in a place calledAl Karama.[30] However, as the leaders were preparing the finalcommuniqué, then British Political AgentCharles Treadwell requested to address the gathering and expressed his government's aspirations that all of their disagreements shall be resolved and is in Britain's interest in the successful outcome of the session.[31] The representatives ofQatar andRas al-Khaimah took Treadwell's remarks as unwarranted, prompting a walk-out bySheikh Ahmad al-Thani andSheikh Saqr al-Qasimi, thus, withdrawing from the union over the perception of foreign interference in theGulf's internal affairs.[32][33][34]
The nine-state union was never to recover from the October 1969 meeting as Bahrain and Qatar opted to drop out of further talks despite efforts by British prime ministerHarold Wilson,Saudi Arabia'sKing Faisal bin Abdulaziz and theemir of KuwaitSabah al-Sabah to revive the negotiations.[35]
The April 1970 constitution committed Qatar to joining Bahrain and the Trucial States in forming the proposed Federation of the Arab Emirates.[36][37] In 1970, theUnited Nations conducted a survey inBahrain in order to know whether the people desired Iranian control or preferred independence. Subsequently, theUnited Nations Security Council unanimously passedResolution 278 in May 1970 which stated that "the overwhelming majority of the people ofBahrain wish to gain recognition of their identity in a full independent and sovereign State free to decide for itself its relations with other States".[38] Iran renounced its claim to the island in the same month.[39]
In May 1970,King Faisal bin Abdulaziz offered to resolve the dispute withAbu Dhabi by dropping some claims onAl Ain andal-Buraimi in exchange for exercising Riyadh's sovereignty in south ofLiwa Oasis andKhor al-Udaid.Zayed subsequently said that he would "not reject the proposal out of hand".[40]
In July 1971, the six emirates, namelyDubai,Sharjah,Ajman,Fujairah andUmm Al Quwain agreed upon forming a union by signing aprovisional constitution of the United Arab Emirates inDubai,[41] which was somewhat of a revised document which was the basis for the Federation of Arab Emirates, thus signaling the dissolution of the latter despite the new constitution having a clause for a potential admission of an independent Arab state into the union but on the condition of assent fromFederal Supreme Council.[42] When the Iranian claim on Bahrain was settled, Bahrain demanded a representational position based on population within the Provisional Federal Council. When rejected, Bahrain declared independence in August 1971.[43] Qatar still claimed to be in favor of the union.[44] However, Qatar declared independence in September 1971 and amended the constitution following thecoup d'état in 1972.[45]
In late November 1971, shortly after the withdrawal ofBritish forces from the islands ofAbu Musa and theGreater and Lesser Tunbs, theImperial Iranian Navy under the orders ofShah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi invaded and annexed the islands, claiming both to be the part of the country'sHormozgan Province.[46][47][48][49] The annexation was met with condemnations from countries likeLibya andIraq.
The union and independence of theUnited Arab Emirates was formally proclaimed bySheikh Zayed al-Nahyan and was read out byAhmed bin Khalifa al-Suwaidi on December 2, 1971, at 10:00 am from theUnion House (now Etihad Museum) inJumeirah,Dubai,[50] a day after the termination of the special treaty relations and the official expiration of the British deadline to withdraw from thePersian Gulf. The declaration formally culminated the transfer of power from the Political Residency of the British Foreign Office to the Trucial States Council, thereby renaming the territories of theTrucial States as theUnited Arab Emirates before the signing of a provisional constitution by the emirs ofAbu Dhabi,Dubai,Sharjah,Ajman,Fujairah andUmm al-Quwain that officially acceded these emirates into the new federal union.
Abilateral treaty was signed between theUnited Kingdom and the newly-formedUnited Arab Emirates on December 2, 1971, that guaranteed ten years of friendship and cooperation between the two states.[51][52][53] The agreement was signed a day after the termination of the special treaty relations and a series of earlier protectiontreaties that were concluded between theBritish government and various leaders ofTrucial States since 1820.[54]
Ras Al Khaimah refused to join the union. One of the reasons of its delayed accession to theUnited Arab Emirates becauseSheikh Saqr thought he could discover oil just like Abu Dhabi. Also he was dissatisfied with Ras Al Khaimah being given 6 seats in the parliamentary assembly, whereas Abu Dhabi and Dubai having 8 seats besides the power of joint veto.[42] However, following the Iranian annexation of the islands ofGreater and Lesser Tunbs andAbu Musa and the assassination ofSheikh Khalid in January 1971, he decided to accede on February 10, 1972.[55]
In August 1974, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates signed theTreaty of Jeddah, which intended to resolve theSaudi Arabia – United Arab Emirates border dispute.[56]
