BURAYMI OASIS DISPUTE

territorial dispute over the oasis villages in the buraymi region, 1952–1974.

The oasis settlements of the Buraymi region have been coveted by regional powers for centuries. The principal contenders for sovereignty during the nineteenth century were the rulers of Muscat, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi, and the Al Saʿud. In the first half of the twentieth century there were nine villages in the Buraymi region, of which three were claimed by Oman, six by Abu Dhabi.

The scramble for oil helped to intensify territorial claims in the region after World War II, and the Buraymi dispute arose when the Saudis aggressively asserted their claim to the oasis region. In 1952, in support of claims by Abu Dhabi and Muscat, a British official established himself in the village of Buraymi. In opposition, a group of Saudi officials occupied the village of Khamasa. With military conflict looming, a standstill agreement was signed in 1952, and an international tribunal created in 1954. Disagreements among the parties precipitated the collapse of the tribunal in 1955. The rulers of Oman and Abu Dhabi subsequently sent a military force to occupy the Buraymi villages and expel the Saudis. In 1972 the United Arab Emirates and Oman divided the Buraymi oasis among themselves. In 1974 Abu Dhabi ceded to Saudi Arabia a territorial corridor to the Persian Gulf south and east of Qatar in exchange for recognition of the Abu Dhabi–Omani claim to Buraymi.

Bibliography

Henderson, Edward. This Strange Eventful History: Memoirs of Earlier Days in the UAE and Oman, 2d edition. Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Motivate Publishing, 1993.

Peck, Malcolm C. The United Arab Emirates: A Venture in Unity. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1986.

Malcolm C. Peck

Updated by Anthony B. Toth