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On
6 August 1999, His Highness Sheikh Zayed
bin Sultan Al Nahyan completed 33 years
as Ruler of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, one
of the seven emirates that together comprise
the Federation of the United Arab Emirates
(UAE), of which he has also been President
since its creation in December 1971. Having
first served in government in 1946 as Ruler's
Representative in Abu Dhabi's Eastern Region
based in the inland oasis of Al Ain, Sheikh
Zayed has now provided leadership to the
country for well over half a century.
Born around
1918 (the date is uncertain), Sheikh Zayed
is the youngest of the four sons of Sheikh
Sultan bin Zayed, Ruler of Abu Dhabi from
1922 to 1926. He was named after his grandfather,
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa, who ruled the
emirate from 1855 to 1909, the longest reign
in the three centuries since the Al Nahyan
family emerged as leaders of the Emirate
of Abu Dhabi.
Abu Dhabi,
like the other emirates of the southern
Arabian Gulf known as the Trucial States,
was then in treaty relations with Britain.
At the time Sheikh Zayed was born the emirate
was poor and undeveloped, with an economy
based primarily on fishing and pearl diving
along the coast and offshore and on simple
agriculture in scattered oases inland.
Life, even
for a young member of the ruling family,
was simple. Education was primarily confined
to the provision of instruction in the principles
of Islam from the local preacher, while
modern facilities such as roads, communications
and health care were conspicuous only by
their absence. Transport was by camel or
by boat, and the harshness of the arid climate
meant that survival itself was often a major
concern.
In early
1928, following the death of Sheikh Sultan's
successor, a family conclave selected as
Ruler Sheikh Shakhbut, Sultan's eldest son,
a post he was to hold until August 1966
when he stepped down in favour of his brother
Zayed.
During the
late 1920s and 1930s, as Sheikh Zayed grew
to manhood he displayed an early thirst
for knowledge that took him out into the
desert with the bedu tribesmen to learn
all he could about the way of life of the
people and the environment in which they
lived. He recalls with pleasure his experience
of desert life and his initiation into the
sport of falconry, which has been a lifelong
passion.
In his book, Falconry: Our Arab Heritage,
published in 1977, Sheikh Zayed noted that
the companionship of a hunting party:
...permits
each and every member of the expedition
to speak freely and express his ideas and
viewpoints without inhibition and restraint,
and allows the one responsible to acquaint
himself with the wishes of his people, to
know their problems and perceive their views
accurately, and thus to be in a position
to help and improve their situation.
From his
desert journeys, Sheikh Zayed learned to
understand the relationship between man
and his environment and in particular, the
need to ensure that sustainable use was
made of natural resources. Once an avid
shot, he abandoned the gun for falconry
at the age of 25, aware that hunting with
a gun could lead rapidly to extinction of
the native wildlife.
His travels
in the remoter areas of Abu Dhabi provided
Sheikh Zayed with a deep understanding both
of the country and of its people. In the
early 1930s, when the first oil company
teams arrived to carry out preliminary surface
geological surveys, he was assigned by his
brother the task of guiding them around
the desert. At the same time he obtained
his first exposure to the industry that
was later to have such a great effect upon
the country.
In 1946,
Sheikh Zayed was chosen to fill a vacancy
as the Ruler's Representative in the Eastern
Region of Abu Dhabi, centred on the oasis
of Al Ain, approximately 160 kilometres
east of the island of Abu Dhabi itself.
Inhabited continuously for at least 5,000
years, the oasis had nine villages, six
of which belonged to Abu Dhabi, and three,
including Buraimi, by which name the oasis
was also known, belonged to the Sultanate
of Oman. The job included the task of not
only administering the six villages, but
the whole of the adjacent desert region,
providing Sheikh Zayed with an opportunity
to learn the techniques of government. In
the late 1940s and early 1950s when Saudi
Arabia put forward territorial claims to
Buraimi he also gained experience of politics
on a broader scale.
Sheikh Zayed
brought to his new task a firm belief in
the values of consultation and consensus,
in contrast to confrontation. Foreign visitors,
such as the British explorer Sir Wilfred
Thesiger, who first met him at this time,
noted with approbation that his judgements
'were distinguished by their astute insights,
wisdom and fairness'.
Sheikh Zayed
swiftly established himself not only as
someone who had a clear vision of what he
wished to achieve for the people of Al Ain,
but also as someone who led by example.
A key task
in the early years in Al Ain was that of
stimulating the local economy, which was
largely based on agriculture. To do this,
he ensured that the subterranean water channels,
or falajes (aflaj), were dredged and personally
financed the construction of a new one,
taking part in the strenuous labour that
was involved.
He also ordered
a revision of local water ownership rights
to ensure a more equitable distribution,
surrendering the rights of his own family
as an example to others. The consequent
expansion of the area under cultivation
in turn generated more income for the residents
of Al Ain, helping to re-establish the oasis
as a predominant economic centre throughout
a wide area.
With development
gradually beginning to get under way, Sheikh
Zayed commenced the laying out of a visionary
city plan, and, in a foretaste of the massive
afforestation programme of today, he also
ordered the planting of ornamental trees
that now, grown to maturity, have made Al
Ain one of the greenest cities in Arabia.
In 1953 Sheikh
Zayed made his first visit abroad, accompanying
his brother Shakhbut to Britain and France.
He recalled later how impressed he had been
by the schools and hospitals he visited,
becoming determined that his own people
should have the benefit of similar facilities:
There were
a lot of dreams I was dreaming about our
land catching up with the modern world,
but I was not able to do anything because
I did not have the wherewithal in my hands
to achieve these dreams. I was sure, however,
that one day they would become true.
Despite constraints
through lack of government revenues, Sheikh
Zayed succeeded in bringing progress to
Al Ain, establishing the rudiments of an
administrative machinery, personally funding
the first modern school in the emirate and
coaxing relatives and friends to contribute
towards small-scale development programmes.
However,
the export of Abu Dhabi’s first cargo
of crude oil to the world market in 1962
was to provide Sheikh Zayed with the means
to fund his dreams. Although prices for
crude oil were then far lower than they
are today, the rapidly growing volume of
exports revolutionised the economy of Abu
Dhabi and its people began to look forward
eagerly to some of the benefits that were
already being enjoyed by their near-neighbours
in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
The pearling industry had finally come to
an end shortly after the Second World War,
and little had emerged to take its place.
Indeed, during the late 1950s and early
1960s, many of the people of Abu Dhabi left
for other oil-producing Gulf states where
there were opportunities for employment.
The economic
hardships faced by Abu Dhabi since the 1930s
had accustomed the Ruler, Sheikh Shakhbut,
to a cautious frugality. Despite the growing
aspirations of his people for progress,
he was reluctant to invest the new oil revenues
in development. Attempts by members of his
family, including Sheikh Zayed, and by the
leaders of the other tribes in the emirate
to persuade him to move with the times were
unsuccessful, and eventually the Al Nahyan
family decided that the time had come for
him to step down. The record of Sheikh Zayed
over the previous 20 years in Al Ain and
his popularity among the people made him
the obvious choice as successor.
On 6 August
1966 Sheikh Zayed became Ruler, with a mandate
from his family to press ahead as fast as
possible with the development of Abu Dhabi.
He was a
man in a hurry. His years in Al Ain had
not only given him experience in government,
but had also provided him with the time
to develop a vision of how the emirate could
progress. With revenues growing year by
year as oil production increased, he was
determined to use them in the service of
the people and a massive programme of construction
of schools, housing, hospitals and roads
got rapidly under way.
Of his first
few weeks as Ruler, Sheikh Zayed has said:
All the picture
was prepared. It was not a matter of fresh
thinking, but of simply putting into effect
the thoughts of years and years. First I
knew we had to concentrate on Abu Dhabi
and public welfare. In short, we had to
obey the circumstances: the needs of the
people as a whole. Second, I wanted to approach
other emirates to work with us. In harmony,
in some sort of federation, we could follow
the example of other developing countries.
As Abu Dhabi
embarked on development, Sheikh Zayed also
turned his attention rapidly to the building
of closer relations with the other emirates:
'Federation
is the way to power, the way to strength,
the way to well-being,' he felt. 'Lesser
entities have no standing in the world today,
and so has it ever been in history.'
One early
step was to increase contributions to the
Trucial States Development Fund established
a few years earlier by the British; Abu
Dhabi soon became its largest donor. At
the beginning of 1968, when the British
announced their intention of withdrawing
from the Arabian Gulf by the end of 1971,
Sheikh Zayed acted swiftly to initiate moves
towards a closer relationship with the other
emirates.
Together
with the late Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Rashid
bin Saeed Al Maktoum, who was to become
Vice-President and Prime Minister of the
UAE, Sheikh Zayed took the lead in calling
for a federation that would include not
only the seven emirates that together made
up the Trucial States, but also Qatar and
Bahrain. When early hopes of a federation
of nine states eventually foundered, with
Qatar and Bahrain opting to preserve their
separate status, Sheikh Zayed led his fellow
Rulers in agreement on the establishment
of the UAE, which formally emerged on to
the international stage on 2 December 1971.
While his
enthusiasm for federation - clearly displayed
by his willingness to spend the oil revenues
of Abu Dhabi on the development of the other
emirates - was a key factor in the formation
of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed also won support
for the way in which he sought consensus
and agreement among his brother Rulers:
I am not
imposing unity on anyone. That is tyranny.
All of us have our opinions, and these opinions
can change. Sometimes we put all opinions
together, and then extract from them a single
point of view. This is our democracy.
Sheikh Zayed
was elected by his fellow Rulers as the
first President of the UAE, a post to which
he has been successively re-elected at five-yearly
intervals.
The new state
came into being at a time of political turmoil
in the region. A couple of days earlier,
on the night of 30 November and early morning
of 1 December, Iran had forcibly and unlawfully
seized the islands of Abu Musa, part of
Sharjah, and Greater and Lesser Tunb.
On land,
demarcation of the borders between the individual
emirates and its neighbours had not been
completed, although a preliminary agreement
had already been reached between Abu Dhabi
and Oman.
Foreign observers,
lacking an understanding of the importance
of a common history and heritage in bringing
together the people of the UAE, predicted
that the new state would survive only with
difficulty, pointing to disputes with its
neighbours and to the wide disparity in
the size, population and level of development
of the seven emirates.
Better informed
about the nature of the country, Sheikh
Zayed was naturally more optimistic. Looking
back a quarter of a century later, he noted:
Our experiment
in federation, in the first instance, arose
from a desire to increase the ties that
bind us, as well as from the conviction
of all that they were part of one family,
and that they must gather together under
one leadership.
We had never
(previously) had an experiment in federation,
but our proximity to each other and the
ties of blood relationships between us are
factors which led us to believe that we
must establish a federation that should
compensate for the disunity and fragmentation
that earlier prevailed.
That which
has been accomplished has exceeded all our
expectations, and that, with the help of
Allah and a sincere will, confirms that
there is nothing that cannot be achieved
in the service of the people if determination
is firm and intentions are sincere.
The predictions
of the pessimists at the time of the formation
of the UAE have indeed been clearly proven
to be unfounded. Over the course of the
past 28 years, the UAE has not only survived,
but has developed at a rate that is almost
without parallel. The country has been utterly
transformed. Its population has risen from
around 250,000 to a 1999 estimate of 2.94
million. Progress, in terms of the provision
of social services, health and education,
as well as in sectors such as communications
and the oil and non-oil economy, has brought
a high standard of living that has spread
throughout the seven emirates, from the
ultra-modern cities to the remotest areas
of the desert and mountains. The change
has, moreover, taken place against a backdrop
of enviable political and social stability,
despite the insecurity and conflict that
has dogged much of the rest of the Gulf
region.
At the same
time, the country has also established itself
firmly on the international scene, both
within the Gulf and Arab region and in the
broader community of nations. Its pursuit
of dialogue and consensus and its firm adherence
to the tenets of the Charter of the United
Nations, in particular those dealing with
the principle of non-interference in the
affairs of other states, have been coupled
with a quiet but extensive involvement in
the provision of development assistance
and humanitarian aid that, in per capita
terms, has few parallels.
There is
no doubt that the experiment in federation
has been a success and the undoubted key
to the achievements of the UAE has been
the central role played by Sheikh Zayed.
During his
years in Al Ain, he was able to develop
a vision of how the country should progress,
and, since becoming first Ruler of Abu Dhabi,
and then President of the UAE, he has devoted
more than three decades into making that
vision a reality.
One foundation
of his philosophy as a leader and statesman
is that the resources of the country should
be fully utilised to the benefit of the
people. The UAE is fortunate to have been
blessed with massive reserves of oil and
gas and it is through careful utilisation
of these, including the decision in 1973
that the Government should take a controlling
share of the oil reserves and assume total
ownership of associated and non-associated
gas, that the financial resources necessary
to underpin the development programme have
always been available. Indeed, there has
been sufficient to permit the Government
to set aside large amounts for investment
on behalf of future generations and, through
the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority created
by Sheikh Zayed, the country now has reserves
unofficially estimated at around US $200
billion.
The financial
resources, however, have always been regarded
by Sheikh Zayed not as a means unto themselves,
but as a tool to facilitate the development
of what he believes to be the real wealth
of the country - its people, and in particular
the younger generation:
Wealth is
not money. Wealth lies in men. That is where
true power lies, the power that we value.
They are the shield behind which we seek
protection. This is what has convinced us
to direct all our resources to building
the individual, and to using the wealth
with which God has provided us in the service
of the nation, so that it may grow and prosper.
Unless wealth is used in conjunction with
knowledge to plan for its use, and unless
there are enlightened intellects to direct
it, its fate is to diminish and to disappear.
The greatest use that can be made of wealth
is to invest it in creating generations
of educated and trained people.
Addressing
the graduation ceremony of the first class
of students from the Emirates University
in 1982, Sheikh Zayed said:
The building
of mankind is difficult and hard. It represents,
however, the real wealth [of the country].
This is not found in material wealth. It
is made up of men, of children and of future
generations. It is this which constitutes
the real treasure. Within this framework,
Sheikh Zayed believes that all of the country's
citizens have a role to play in its development.
Indeed he
defines it not simply as a right, but a
duty. Addressing his colleagues in the Federal
Supreme Council, he noted:
The most
important of our duties as Rulers is to
raise the standard of living of our people.
To carry out one's duty is a responsibility
given by Allah, and to follow up on work
is the responsibility of everyone, both
the old and the young.
Both men
and women, he believes, should play their
part. Recognising that in the past a lack
of education and development had prevented
women taking a full role in much of the
activity of society, he has taken action
to ensure that this situation does not continue.
Although
women's advocates might argue that there
is still much to be done, the achievements
have been remarkable and the country's women
are now increasingly playing their part
in political and economic life by taking
up senior positions in the public and private
sectors. In so doing, they have enjoyed
full support from the President:
Women have
the right to work everywhere. Islam affords
to women their rightful status, and encourages
them to work in all sectors, as long as
they are afforded the appropriate respect.
The basic role of women is the upbringing
of children, but, over and above that, we
must offer opportunities to a woman who
chooses to perform other functions. What
women have achieved in the Emirates in only
a short space of time makes me both happy
and content. We sowed our seeds yesterday,
and today the fruit has already begun to
appear. We praise Allah for the role that
women play in our society. It is clear that
this role is beneficial for both present
and future generations.
Sheikh Zayed
has made it clear that he believes that
the younger generation, those who have enjoyed
the fruits of the UAE's development programme,
must now take up the burden once carried
by their parents. Within his immediate family,
Sheikh Zayed has ensured that his sons have
taken up posts in government at which they
are expected to work and not simply enjoy
as sinecures. Young UAE men who have complained
about the perceived lack of employment opportunities
at an unrealistic salary level have been
offered positions on farms as agricultural
labourers, so that they may learn the dignity
of work:
Work is of
great importance, and of great value in
building both individuals and societies.The
size of a salary is not a measure of the
worth of an individual. What is important
is an individual's sense of dignity and
self-respect. It is my duty as the leader
of the young people of this country to encourage
them to work and to exert themselves in
order to raise their own standards and to
be of service to the country. The individual
who is healthy and of a sound mind and body
but who does not work commits a crime against
himself and against society.
We look forward
to seeing in the future our sons and daughters
playing a more active role, broadening their
participation in the process of development
and shouldering their share of the responsibilities,
especially in the private sector, so as
to lay the foundations for the success of
this participation and effectiveness. At
the same time, we are greatly concerned
to raise the standing and dignity of the
work ethic in our society, and to increase
the percentage of citizens in the labour
force. This can be achieved by following
a realistic and well-planned approach that
will improve performance and productivity,
moving towards the long-term goal of secure
and comprehensive development.
In this sphere,
as in other areas, Sheikh Zayed has long
been concerned about the possible adverse
impact upon the younger generation of the
easy life they enjoy, so far removed from
the resilient, resourceful lifestyle of
their parents. One key feature of Sheikh
Zayed's strategy of government, therefore,
has been the encouragement of initiatives
designed to conserve and cherish aspects
of the traditional culture of the people,
in order to familiarise the younger generation
with the ways of their ancestors. In his
view, it is of crucial importance that the
lessons and heritage of the past are not
forgotten. They provide, he believes, an
essential foundation upon which real progress
can be achieved:
History is
a continuous chain of events. The present
is only an extension of the past. He who
does not know his past cannot make the best
of his present and future, for it is from
the past that we learn. We gain experience
and we take advantage of the lessons and
results [of the past]. Then we adopt the
best and that which suits our present needs,
while avoiding the mistakes made by our
fathers and our grandfathers. The new generation
should have a proper appreciation of the
role played by their forefathers. They s | 
