Now forgotten, the place where, the UAE was born

Roughly half way along the highway between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, there is an interchange at a place called Semeih. One can turn off here to a large camel-racing track hidden in the desert behind the plantations and small farms, but otherwise, it doesn’t appear of much interest to the passer-by: no houses, no roadside cafe, simply a small plantation of trees and a lake formed by surplus irrigation water draining out of other, larger, plantations nearby. Occasionally I and other birdwatchers will pull off here to look at the lake, but it’s rarely produced anything of interest in the way of rare birds. For the most part, travellers just speed past, and one can’t really blame them for doing so.

Yet this unremarkable place was the site of one of the most important events in the history of the United Arab Emirates. It was here, 41 years ago tomorrow, that the two fathers of the UAE federation, Sheikh Zayed of Abu Dhabi and Sheikh Rashid of Dubai, met on February 18 1968, to lay the foundations of the state of today.

A few weeks earlier, a British Foreign Office minister had visited what were then known as the Trucial States to inform the Rulers that, contrary to promises made as recently as a couple of months before, Britain would be bringing an end to its presence in the Gulf, in December 1971. In consequence, it would be terminating the agreements signed in 1820 – and subsequently supplemented by others – that had ensured protection for, and had guaranteed the sovereignty and survival of, the emirates. The seven states, still poor and underdeveloped – though Abu Dhabi had commenced oil exports six years earlier – would henceforth have to make their own way in the world.

The timing was scarcely auspicious. The previous year, the June war between Israel and Egypt, Jordan and Syria had ended in disastrous defeat for the Arab side, with the West Bank and Gaza, both parts of Palestine, and the Sinai peninsula coming under Israeli occupation. In December 1967, the British had withdrawn in haste from Aden and the former protectorates of South Arabia, with the radical, Marxist-inspired, National Liberation Front coming to power and supporting a spreading of insurgency into Oman. Three of the emirates, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah, had parts of their territory being claimed by neighbouring states.

Sheikh Zayed, who had become Abu Dhabi’s Ruler in August 1966, and Sheikh Rashid were taken aback by the British decision, and by the explicit advice that they and their fellow Rulers should now plan for a future on their own.

Deciding to meet to discuss what to do next, they fixed on Semeih as the meeting point. Half way between the two towns – for they were not yet cities – it was a place replete with symbolism. The small well at Semeih had, for generations, been the place where Abu Dhabi’s tribes had gathered before engaging in warfare. The last time that had occurred was only just over 20 years earlier, prior to a conflict between Abu Dhabi and Dubai in which both Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid had taken part.

At their meeting at Semeih on February 18 1968, the two rulers agreed to form a union of their two emirates, with a common approach to foreign affairs, defence, security and social services, as well as to immigration. Settling a long-standing disagreement over their land and maritime borders, they also invited the rulers of the other Trucial States to join their union, as well as Qatar and Bahrain, which were also to be affected by the termination of the agreements with Britain.

There was a prompt response. On February 25, a week later, the rulers of all nine states met in Dubai and agreed to form a federation. Qatar and Bahrain eventually, in mid-1971, decided to go their own way, and the federation of the United Arab Emirates was formally established in December 1971, with Sheikh Zayed as the first President and Sheikh Rashid the first Vice President. Thus the Semeih meeting can, rightly, be said to have represented the birth of the federation.

Yet if one stops at Semeih, there is nothing to mark this historic event. The modest rest-house that once existed there was demolished years ago, and its role in the modern history of the country is largely forgotten.

We hear much about efforts to preserve the country’s history and heritage, and, of course, to promote the country’s national identity. Billions of dirhams are being spent on planning new museums, which, in some cases, have little if anything to do with the UAE itself. Welcome though these projects may be, would it not also be a good idea to create a small museum at Semeih? It needn’t be a dramatic or expensive structure – a simple building with a commemorative display of photographs and a few old film clips of the federation’s founding fathers would suffice, supported by staff members who could explain the displays and the significance of the location to visitors.

It probably wouldn’t attract many tourists, although one might hope that some travel agencies might pick it as a regular stop for their tour buses – but it should become a place that is a focus of trips by any school, whether for Emiratis or expatriates, that has a programme of teaching local history. What better location to talk about the wisdom and vision of Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid than Semeih, where they together, in simple surroundings in what was then just desert, laid down the keel of what has become today’s ship of state?


Peter Hellyer is a writer and consultant specialising in the UAE’s heritage and environment. He has also written extensively on the country’s social, political and economic development.