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Unification of the United Arab Emirates

Part of Decolonisation of Asia and Cold War
Sheikh Zayed hoisting the flag of the United Arab Emirates at the Union House in Jumeirah, Dubai on December 2, 1971
Native name	توحيد دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة
Date	February 18, 1968 – February 10, 1972 (1968-02-18 – 1972-02-10) (3 years, 11 months) First phase: 18 February 1968 – 2 December 1971 Second phase: 2 December 1971 – 10 February 1972
Location	Persian Gulf Residency Trucial States Bahrain Qatar
Participants	First phase: Federation of Arab Emirates Trucial States Abu Dhabi Dubai Ajman Sharjah Fujairah Umm Al Quwain Ras Al Khaimah Bahrain Qatar Second phase:  United Arab Emirates Ras Al Khaimah
Outcome	Union agreement between Dubai and Abu Dhabi Creation of the Federation of Arab Emirates Signing of the provisional constitution Bahrain and Qatar declare independence Dissolution of the Federation of Arab Emirates Iranian annexation of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs Proclamation of the United Arab Emirates Admission of United Arab Emirates to the United Nations Disbandment of the Persian Gulf Residency Assassination of Khalid bin Mohammed al-Qasimi Accession of Ras Al Khaimah to the United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi–Saudi Arabia boundary dispute remains unresolved until 1974 Bahrain–Qatar territorial disputes remain unresolved until 2001

The Unification of the United Arab Emirates (Arabic: توحيد دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة, romanized: Taūḥīd daūlah al-ʾImārāt al-ʿArabīyah al-Muttaḥidah) was a political and diplomatic campaign essentially led by the ruler of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan in the British protectorates of the Persian Gulf Residency primarily from February 1968 to December 1971 where he successfully convinced the rulers of the emirates of Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah and Umm al-Quwain to form an independent sovereign federal union with Abu Dhabi, initially known as the Federation of Arab Emirates and later as the United Arab Emirates on the eve of Britain's withdrawal and anticipated dissolution of the Persian Gulf Residency. The period may also include the period between the federation's proclamation in December 1971 and up until the accession of Ras al-Khaimah in February 1972 which temporarily resisted the union upon its inception due to several geopolitical and economic reasons.

The campaign is considered to have commenced with the union agreement between Abu Dhabi and Dubai on February 18, 1968, and came to a formal close on December 1, 1971, when Britain's official deadline of the withdrawal expired and Sheikh Zayed signed the termination of the special treaty relations that were previously concluded between the British government and the leaders of the Trucial States since 1820.

A subsequent proclamation was made the very next day by the leaders of the six emirates under the auspices of Sheikh Zayed that officialized the transfer of power to the Trucial States Council from the Persian Gulf Residency of the British Foreign Office on December 2, 1971, formally renaming the territories of the Trucial States as the United Arab Emirates. Ras al-Khaimah, while initially opposing the union and refusing to join it, finally acceded in February 1972 whereas Qatar and Bahrain went on to choose independent statehood.

Although Ras al-Khaimah initially resisting to join the union on grounds of purported inequality with its Qasimi counterpart, Sharjah, it however joined the federation in February 1972 following the assassination of Sharjah's emir Sheikh Khalid al-Qasimi and upon the assurance of equal treatment among the northern emirates, making it the seventh and final emirate to accede to the union.

Historical background

Following the expulsion of the Portuguese from Bahrain in 1602, the Al Qasimi, the tribes extending from the Qatari Peninsula to the Ras Musandam, adopted maritime raiding as a way of life due to the lack of any maritime authority in the area. The attacks surged in the beginning of 19th century.

In the aftermath of a series of attacks in 1808 off the coast Sindh involving 50 Qasimi raiders and following the 1809 monsoon season, the British East India Company, with the naval support of the British government, launched an operation against the Al Qasimi tribe ruling Ras Al Khaimah in 1809. 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 armed pattamar, the Deriah Dowlut, off the coast of Dwarka 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 a punitive expedition against the maritime force of Al Qasimi, which was now split into two emirates, one the Wahhabi-backed Ras Al Khaimah and other in Sharjah and Lengeh. The British devastated Ras Al Khaimah and ended up deposing Hassan bin Rahma Al Qasimi from power before signing the General Maritime Treaty of 1820 with the rulers of Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah. In 1853, the treaty of Perpetual Maritime Truce was signed which prohibited any act of aggression at sea and was signed by Abdulla 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 and Sultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi.

In response to the ambitions of France and Russia, Britain and the Trucial Sheikhdoms established closer bonds in an 1892 treaty, 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.

Trucial States Council and the idea of federation

The Trucial States Council was a forum for the leaders of the emirates to meet, presided over by the British Political 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. 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.

The idea of a federation between the Trucial States was first floated in the late 1950s by Michael Wright, the British ambassador to Iraq. However, it was rejected as 'fanciful' by Bernard Burrows, the political resident.

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. One issue which came up regularly in the council's first 14 meetings was that of locusts—the swarms were highly destructive to the agriculture of the whole area—but the Bedouin of the interior were convinced the spraying of insecticide would be detrimental to their herds and resisted the teams brought in from Pakistan to spray the insects' breeding grounds.

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.

In 1967, oil was discovered in the Zararah oil field in south of Liwa Oasis and King Faisal had again claimed the area as part of Saudi Arabia in 1970. Faisal offered to resolve the dispute by relinquishing claims on Al Ain and Buraimi in exchange for assuming total control over Zararah and Khor Al Adaid. He also requested Zayed to halt the drilling by the Abu Dhabi Petroleum Company in Zararah while discussions are underway.

Zayed, however, tried to resist the Saudi pressure as the oasis had been the center of the emirate's eastern province and its capital, Al Ain. For Faisal, it was an issue of pride and honor and a reminder of past Najdi Wahhabi glories under First and Second Saudi states during 18th and 19th centuries.

Announcement of British withdrawal and Federation of Arab Emirates

Harold 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.

The decision pitched the rulers of the Trucial Coast, together with Qatar and Bahrain, into fevered negotiations to fill the political vacuum that the British withdrawal would leave behind. A month later in February 1968, Sheikh Zayed al-Nahyan met with Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed al-Maktoum and signed a union agreement between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, a turning point in the history of the Gulf considered as the prelude to the unification of the United Arab Emirates since the two agreed on bringing other neighboring emirates to join the proposed federation, including Bahrain and Qatar. In October 1969, the rulers of the nine emirates met for the last time in Abu Dhabi and elected Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan as the president, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed al-Maktoum as vice president and Sheikh 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 between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. However, as the leaders were preparing the final communiqué, then British Political Agent Charles 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. The representatives of Qatar and Ras al-Khaimah took Treadwell's remarks as unwarranted, prompting a walk-out by Sheikh Ahmad al-Thani and Sheikh Saqr al-Qasimi, thus, withdrawing from the union over the perception of foreign interference in the Gulf's internal affairs.

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 minister Harold Wilson, Saudi Arabia's King Faisal bin Abdulaziz and the emir of Kuwait Sabah al-Sabah to resuscitate the negotiations.

In 1970, the United Nations conducted a survey in Bahrain in order to know whether the people desired Iranian control or preferred independence. Subsequently, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 278 in May 1970 which stated that "the overwhelming majority of the people of Bahrain wish to gain recognition of their identity in a full independent and sovereign State free to decide for itself its relations with other States". Iran renounced its claim to the island in the same month.

In May 1970, King Faisal bin Abdulaziz offered to resolve the dispute with Abu Dhabi by dropping some claims on Al Ain and al-Buraimi in exchange for exercising Riyadh's sovereignty in south of Liwa Oasis and Khor al-Udaid. Zayed subsequently said that he would "not reject the proposal out of hand".

In July 1971, the six emirates, namely Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah and Umm al-Quwain agreed upon forming a union by signing a provisional constitution in Dubai. Bahrain declared independence in August 1971 and Qatar followed suit in September 1971. In late November 1971, shortly after the withdrawal of British forces from the islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs, the Imperial Iranian Navy invaded and annexed the islands, claiming both to be the part of Hormozgan Province. The annexation was met with condemnations from countries like Libya and Iraq.

Declaration of independence and aftermath

The union and independence of the United Arab Emirates was formally proclaimed by Sheikh Zayed al-Nahyan and was read out by Ahmed bin Khalifa al-Suwaidi on December 2, 1971, at 10:00 am from the Union House (now Etihad Museum) in Jumeirah, Dubai, a day after the termination of the special treaty relations and the official expiration of the British deadline to withdraw from the Persian 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 the Trucial States as the United Arab Emirates before the signing of a provisional constitution by the emirs of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah and Umm al-Quwain that officially acceded these emirates into the new federal union.

A bilateral treaty was signed between the United Kingdom and the newly-formed United Arab Emirates on December 2, 1971, that guaranteed ten years of friendship and cooperation between the two states. The agreement was signed a day after the termination of the special treaty relations and a series of earlier protection treaties that were concluded between the British government and various leaders of Trucial States since 1820.

Ras Al Khaimah refused to join the union. One of the reasons of its delayed accession to the United Arab Emirates because Sheikh 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. However, following the Iranian annexation of the islands of Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Musa and the assassination of Sheikh Khalid in January 1971, he decided to accede on February 10, 1972.

In August 1974, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates signed the Treaty of Jeddah which intended to resolve the Saudi Arabia – United Arab Emirates border dispute.

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