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| Volume IX, September 2002, Number 3 |
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| EXCERPT: The UAE and Oman: Opportunities and Challenges in the Twenty-first Century |
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| Fatma Al-Sayegh |
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Dr. Al-Sayegh is an associate professor of history at the University of the UAE, Al-Ain.
Although Oman and the United
Arab Emirates (a federation of
Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah,
Ajman, Rasal-Khaimah, Umm-al-Qaiwan and Fujairah) have been independent since the early 1970s,1 independence did not bring harmony. In the early 1950s, for example, Emirati, Omani and Saudi tribes fought a bitter battle over the Buraimi Oasis that left scars on the entire region. After independence, and especially after the 1981 creation of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the two states improved relations considerably, periodic tensions notwithstanding. Their relations have evolved through a stream of epoch-making developments, especially between 1952 and May 1999, when an accord on the lingering disputes was finally concluded. This paper examines the long-term implications of this three-decade long feud and the foundations on which UAE-Omani political and economic ties are based.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
In the second half of the 1940s, two major political changes took place in the Arab Gulf region. The first was the transfer of Britain's Political Residency headquarters from Bushire on the Persian side of the Gulf to Bahrain on the Arab side. This transfer resulted in the severing of London's longstanding connection with Persia, marking the renewed importance of the Arab Gulf emirates. The second was the transfer on April 1, 1949, of responsibility for the Political Residency from the government of India to the Foreign Office in London. This marked a new British attitude towards the lower Gulf.2 Amid abrupt political changes and substantial instability in the aftermath of World War II and the start of the Cold War, the lower Gulf sheikhdoms showed surprising stability and endurance. Savvy rulers only feared the intrigues of other members of their families. Due to the lack of political awareness among the masses, there were very few signs of popular demand for more "democratic" forms of government or organized political institutions that could deal with emerging political issues.
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| 1 Oman has a territory of about 300,000 square kilometers or 187,000 square miles that borders the Gulf of Oman.
2 Records of Oman, 1867-1960, R.W. Bailey, ed., London, Archive Editions, Vol.8, 1992, pp. 8-9.
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