Territorial row a problem for Gulf countries

By Alexandra Pironti

DUBAI (DPA): Territorial disputes in the Arabian Peninsula persist, endangering relations among Gulf countries where many of the frontiers running through oil-rich deserts and water boundaries have yet to be defined.

The International Court of Justice in the Hague on Monday started the final proceedings in one of these border disputes, between Qatar and Bahrain, and is expected to rule on the case in June.

Bahrain and Qatar have been feuding since their independence -- from Britain in 1971 over the Haward Islands in the Gulf, which are believed to have oil and gas reserves and have been controlled by Bahrain since the 1930s.

Bahrain recently unveiled plans to develop the islands, where it has already build a tourist resort with a hotel, saying it wants to construct a 22-kilometer bridge to link the islands with the mainland.

Other disputes between Qatar and Bahrain are over water boundaries and the Zubara land strip in Qatar, where Bahrain's royal family lived 200 years ago.

The dispute between the two countries reached a climax on May 21 after Bahrain said it was suspending talks with Qatar because Doha failed to respond to its proposals to resolve the dispute.

The situation only calmed down last week when the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani, visited Bahrain on a goodwill trip to ease tensions. Both countries then said they would wait for the international court verdict before undertaking new initiatives.

Qatar took the dispute to the International Court of Justice in 1991, despite Bahrain's opposition to arbitration by an international court. The Bahraini government favors a regional mediation to solve the dispute.

At the same time Bahrain has accused Qatar of having submitted false documents on the dispute to the international court.

Their dispute is seen as endangering the integrity of the seven-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a political and strategic alliance comprising Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Kuwait.

Bahrain threatened earlier this month to leave the GCC because of the failure of the alliance to resolve its dispute with Qatar, in which Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been mediating.

The Bahraini government also blamed other GCC countries for not stopping Qatar from taking their territorial dispute to the world court in the Hague.

Qatar and Bahrain were on the brink of war in 1986 over the islands, but Saudi Arabia mediated to avert war.

Another unresolved dispute in the Gulf is Kuwait's claim to ownership of Qaruh and Umm al Maradim islands which is disputed by Saudi Arabia.

Iran and the United Arab Emirates have long been at odds over three strategic islands in the Gulf: Lesser Tunb, Greater Tunb and Abu Musa. The islands, currently controlled by Iran, are in the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz through which one-fifth of the world's oil exports pass.

This last dispute also threatened to split the GCC after the United Arab Emirates claimed that Saudi Arabia was sacrificing its interests in the pursuit of rapprochement with Tehran.

The United Arab Emirates wants the GCC countries to link their relations with Iran to a solution of its dispute with that country. After reformist Iranian President Mohammed Khatami took office three years ago, relations between Iran and the GCC have become closer.

Yemen and Saudi Arabia have also involved in a dispute since the 1930s. Yemen contests Saudi Arabia's claims to three islands in the Red Sea and part of the Empty Quarter, a vast desert region with potentially lucrative oil deposits.

The two countries have never demarcated their 2,000 kilometer border.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh was expected to visit Saudi Arabia next month to try to end the dispute, according to regional newspapers.

Analysts in the region believe that territorial disputes in the area are a major reason the GCC has failed to develop into an effective regional security organization.

The root of the disputes, according to analysts, is a combination of expanding national aspirations, remnants of colonialism, and the competition for control of gas and oil resources.

Until the discovery of oil in the Arabian Peninsula in 1938, borders were essentially the spheres of influence of dominant tribal leaders.

As the Saud family, the Saudi Arabian dynasty, extended its control to most of the Arabian Peninsula from the 1900s to the 1930s, the British established a frontier separating their sphere of influence from the Saudi bedouin armies.

But when the British left the region in the early 1970s, most of the independent countries which were going to be formed later on did not have their borders clearly marked.