THE PERSIAN GULF WHO SHOULD BE POLICEMAN WHEN BRITAIN WITHDRAWS?

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31177, 29 September 1966, Page 12

THE PERSIAN GULF WHO SHOULD BE POLICEMAN WHEN BRITAIN WITHDRAWS?

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CLARE HOLLINGWORTH

tn the ''Guardian”. Uancneeter)

i Reprinted by arrangement)

Three Heads of State are planning separately to take over the Persian Gulf when British defence forces withdraw from the region: King Faisal of Saudi Arabia who believes himself to be the traditional overlord of the Arabian peninsula, the Shah of Persia who thinks of the Gulf as his own back garden—he lays claim to Bahrain and other islands in it—and President Aref who claims that a part of the rich oil Emirate of Kuwait belongs, by right, to Iraq.

All the rulers are convinced that British land, sea and air forces will leave the area in the early 19705. Although King Faisal and the Shah both oppose President Nasser and his revolutionary socialism, they have been unable to form a military alliance: indeed, they cannot even agree on the position of the meridian line which divides the shallow waters of the northern Gulf between their countries. Emir’s Ambitions While the secret contingency plans are being drawn up in Riyad, Bagdad and Tehran for the takeover of Kuwait, the Emir of this now independent State, whose income is around £220 millions a year, is trying to establish himself as the leader of the Gulf sheikhs. After changing his title to that of Emir he has toured the Trucial States in a lordly manner offering to build schools and help in the provision of instructors from among his 200,000 subjects.

Britain’s withdrawal will certainly cause strained relations if not actual bloodshed between these three States bordering the Gulf—all of which are now equipped with modern aggressive weapons—but it will be the signal for fighting between the smaller sheikhdoms, whose frontiers have never been clearly defined in spite of many efforts since Britain became responsible for their defence and foreign policy.

Until oil was discovered few men worried where the line of demarcation was drawn across the desert or in the sea, although there was continual fighting among the tribes for possession of wells, grazing land or oases. An old Arab said to me: “The British brought us the great gift of peace which we and our sons now take for granted.” This peace has been maintained by a truly remarkable force of some 1700 men—the Trucial Oman Scouts: based on Sharjah they cover an area of many hundreds of square miles with only five mobile squadrons. The T.O.S. backed by the R.A.F. (which is now enlarging its staging post at Sharjah in readiness for the withdrawal from Aden) acts as a deterrent. Order to Withdraw When a sheikh establishes a camp of armed men in an arek deemed to belong to his neighbour, it is generally enough for a patrol of the T.O.S. to order him to withdraw. Should he show reluctance to carry out the order the T.O.S. officer merely calls for reinforcements and this invariably achieves results. Indeed, the T.O.S. pride themselves on not firing their well maintained rifles. Officers and men recruited from all seven of the Trucial States work harmoniously together'

under a British commander, helped by a handful of British n.c.o.'s and officers.

Separately, the former ruler of Abu Dhabi, the eccentric Sheikh Shakbut, who is now in exile in Bahrain, insisted on the establishment of an Abu Dhabi Defence Force and two British officers were seconded to help in its formation whilst members of the T.O.S. born in the sheikhdom were invited to join the new force. It is assumed that the new ruler, Sheikh Zain, whose income next year will be £4O millions, will maintain this private army.

But with one sheikhdom so rich and the next door neighbour without oil and still poverty stricken, there would be immediate tribal fighting were the T.O.S. to be withdrawn and even minor wars on either a national or tribal level could render the actual production of oil virtually impossible. “You cannot drink oil," President Nasser says, but to pipe, de-gas and load the oil

on to a tanker requires highly skilled direction of a number of trained workers who can operate effectively only under peaceful conditions. Sabotage of wells, pipelines and other installations is all too easy to the unskilled terrorist. U.A.R. Agents Another danger will come from civil disturbances in those sheikhdoms which have urban areas. It is suggested there are agents from the United Arab Republic among the school teachers and clerks already attempting to stir up trouble in Kuwait, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Dubai. This may not be true but what is certain is that the literate youth who have visited Cairo or Beirut are becoming extremely dissatisfied with the reactionary rule of the Majority of the sheikhs. These young men are not especially interested in Nasser’s Arab socialism. They claim the right to enjoy the way of life which has evolved in Egypt, Iraq and the Lebanon. Prohibition, recently intro- ' duced into Kuwait, has

created a black market where whisky costs from £lO to £l2 a bottle and a can of beer 10s when you can get it. The lack of newspapers, places of entertainment, swimming pools and restaurants, where men can take their women, are giving rise to bitter indignation everywhere, but most especially among Kuwaitis who have so much money to spend. The resentment could easily lead to revolt against their reactionary rulers. Kuwaiti Absentees

Already the multi-million-aire Kuwaitis are semiabsentees with a large part of their fortunes invested in the United States and Europe. "Would you stay in the Gulf if you could spend nine months of the year in Europe?” a minor millionaire asked a group of journalists. At the first hint of trouble these millionaires from Kuwait will take their private planes and settle permanently in the South of France. The merely wealthy will take to

their flats in Beirut and Cairo, leaving behind some 150,000 of their fellow citizens, many of whom feel they have not acquired a fair share of the wealth from oil, since they have only been able to build large houses in Kuwait. The most dissatisfied people are the 200,000 Palestinians, Indians and Persians who have done the work as labourers and clerks for the last fifteen years without acquiring any of the riches open to Kuwaiti citizens.

In order to prevent a new Kuwaiti situation arising m the Trucial State, the British Government now insists that ail visitors other than Arabs from the Gulf area must ob tain visas. This visa is not always easy to obtain for private individuals and too often prevents men engaged in the export drive from reaching Abu Dhabi while “scallywags” of all nations soon learn how to make their way there without one. No Going Back Few people would wish to go back to the desert where camel and goat herds have died off as bedu labour has drifted to regular work in the oil fields. Wells have fallen in. fishermen's boats became derelict, pearling dropped and many of the once profltab'e date palm groves have been left untended as the workers demanded more elaborate foods. In some of the oases— Buraimi is a good example—much of the formerly abundant water supply has been piped away to the town.

Few rulers really want the British to leave, though they would not say so aloud. Some Arabs are now praying to Allah that United States will replace the British presence in the Gulf. The Americans already have a token naval force based on Bahrain and the vast air base at Dhahran which was reactivated over a year ago is ready for use. For a decade or more only the presence of a Great Power can prevent turmoil among tribes whose way of life, until a few years ago, had remained unchanged since Mahomet’s time.