Boundary Disputes: Chaos in Order

Abstract

Shortly after Britain’s announcement in 1968 that its withdrawal from the Gulf was imminent, the rulers of Dubai and Abu Dhabi declared their forthcoming federation and at the same time announced the settlement of a longstanding dispute between their two shaykhdoms over offshore rights (with, as is only too well known today, implications for the ownership of any oil or other mineral wealth beneath the seabed). A ruler of Abu Dhabi, Shakhbut bin Sultan, had been the first of the Trucial shaykhs to grasp the significance of territorial limits. Before granting an option to the D’Arcy Exploration Company in 1936, he declared his anxiety to have his boundary with Dubai firmly defined. He wrote to Shaykh Said asking him what territories had been included in his option to D’Arcy, and urged that the frontier between them be settled before geologists set out on their work.¹ Sa‘id agreed, and in November 1937 the two men met to discuss the matter. The main arbitrators were Ahmad bin Hilal and Ahmad bin Khalaf bin ‘Utaybah, a leading merchant of Abu Dhabi who had a strong influence on Shakhbut. After negotiations, the rulers reached a verbal agreement that the area to the west of a line running south from Bandar Hisyan was Abu Dhabi territory, and the land to the east of that Dubai’s.²