Persian Gulf: Desert Merger

Brotherhood may not be in sight between Arabs and Israelis, Indians and Pakistanis. But at least a troubled world can take comfort from the fact that Abu Dhabi and Dubai are getting together.

The two oil-rich sheikdoms, whose names together have a wonderfully soothing, almost hypnotic rhythm, are part of the seven tiny Trucial* States perched on the Persian Gulf. They make up for their smallness by king-size feuds over their indefinite boundaries. There has been no end of dagger duels between the inhabitants of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, but last week delegations from both met in a cluster of mud huts on their mutual borders. After countless cups of tea, Sheik Zaid bin Sultan of Abu Dhabi and Sheik Rashid bin Said Al-Maktoum of Dubai signed a pact of federation that will give their joint population of 150,000 a common citizenship, flag, defense force and foreign policy.

Cooperation has become necessary for the Trucial States since Britain decided to pull back its 6,000 troops and its two Hawker Hunter jet squadrons from the Persian Gulf by 1971. Arab nationalists in South Yemen have vowed to oust the sheiks, and the Egyptians, Saudi Arabians, Iraqis and Iranians are also out to extend their influence in the Gulf. Result: the Trucial sheiks are scurrying around looking for ways to protect themselves. Last week’s pact is just a start toward banding together in the face of danger. This week the sheiks gather in Dubai to discuss enlarging the federation to include the five smaller states—Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, Umm al Qaiwain and Ras al Khaimah.

Until recently, when oil began spurting out of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the sheiks needed little protection. Who, after all, wanted a flat, trackless desert coated with gravel and hospitable only to a few grazing oryxes, hares and gazelles? Yet the whole Gulf region is estimated to have some 60% of the free world’s proven oil reserves, and the Trucial States are sitting on a good deal of it. After only six years of pumping oil, Abu Dhabi has the world’s highest per-capita income: $4,800.

* So named for truces signed with Britain in the 19th century.