FOURTH COMMITTEE, 1573rd GENERAL MEETING ASSEMBLY Wednesday, 1 Decem1Jer 1965, at 10.55 a.m. TJrEI\'TIETII SE8810lV

Official Records NEW YORK

CONTENTS some officers had gone so far as to resign their Page commissions. Agenda item 73: 4. Mr. StL\l\IMOt:T (Yemen). referring to reports Question of : report of the Ad Hoc Com­ that the Cnited Kingdom authorities were planning mittee on Oman (continued) to equip the military bases in the area with nuclear HParing of petitioners (continued) • 351 weapons, asked the petitioners whether they were General debate (continued). 354 aware of a so-called secret agreement concerning the l\Iasirah base between 1\Ir. Selwyn Lloyd, the Organization of work ...... 355 former Secretary of State for Foreign A.ffairs, and the Sultan. Chairman: Mr. MaJid RAHNEMA (Iran). 5. Mr. GLl'BB (Committee for the Rights of Oman) said that he was unable to reply to that question since In the absence of the Chairman, Mr. Bruce (Togo), it involved a complex and delicate matter and he Vice-Chairman, took the Chair. might unwittingly divulge information which came within the scope of the Official Secrets Act, causing AGENDA ITEM 73 difficulties for himself and the other llnited Kingdom citizens on the Committee he represented. Question of Oman: report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Oman (continued) (A/5846) 6. Sheikh TALIB BIN ALI AL-HANI satd that the question was a complex one and that he would need HEARING OF PETITIONERS (continued) time to study it. He would he glad to give a reply at At the invitation of the Chairman, Mr. Faris Glubb, the next meeting of the Committee. representative of the Committee for the Rights of 7. Mr. SHAl\TMOUT (Yemen) askedl\Ir. Glubbwhether Oman, Sheikh Suleiman bin Himyar, Sheikh Talib bin any of the members of the Comm:ttee for the Rights Ali Al-Hani and Mr. Faissal Ali Faissal took places of Oman had been subjected to difficulties by the at the Committee table. United Kingdom Government because of their activities on behalf of the people of Oman. 1, 1\Ir. SHAMl\10VT (Yemt:·n) thanked the petitioners for the comprehensive information they had given the 8. Mr. GLUBB (Committee for the Rights of Oman) Committee. He congratulated Mr. Glubb, a United replied that the members of his Committee did indeed Kingdom citizen, whose loyalty to his country could suffer difficulties. He stressed that the Committee. not be questioned, for taking up the just cause of the which was composed of Members of Parliament and Omani people. other eminent citizens. kept its opposition to the United Kingdom Government's policies \\ i thin strictly 2. l\Ir. Glubh had said that the United Kingdom Gov­ legal limits. There was therefore no legal basis 011 ernment was preserving the slave trade. He wondered which the Government could prevent his Com·11ittee whether he had any evidence, p

351 A/CA/SR.1573 352 General Assembly - Twentieth Session - Fourth Committee

Masirah base, which reinforced the base at Aden, been part of a widespread awakening throughout the was equipped with the latest weapons, including Islamic countries. Despite attempts by the l'nited nuclear weapons, and it had been reported that the Kingdom to isolate Oman, there was a great deal of number of troops there had been increased to 30,000 contact between Omani scholars and those of North or 40,000. Africa and the intellectual community in Oman was 11. In reply to a further question from Mr. SHAM­ very much aware of events in the outside world. MOUT (Yemen), Sheikh TALIB BIN ALI AL-HANI 18. Although there were many similarities between said that the United Kingdom practised a policy of the Renaissance in Europe and the religious and rotating troops between the bases at Aden, Bahrain, cultural revival in Oman, he thought that the end Sharjah, and Masirah for the purpose of suppressing product would be rather different from what had liberation movements. occurred in Europe, i.e., the fragmentation of Chris­ 12. Mr. SHAMMOUT (Yemen) asked the petitioners tianity. In the Islamic world, a closer unity of thought what they expected the United Nations to do to further was developing among the people, who recognized their cause. the democratic elements of the principles of Islam. 13. Sheikh TALIB BIN ALI AL-HANI said that it was 19. Mr. MARRACHE (Syria) noted that the Imamate clear that the problem of Oman had resulted from of Oman had been founded in the eighth century. At imperialist policies and intervention. The people of that time the Arab world had been ruled by the Oman had on many occasions expressed their desire Umayyads, whose capital had been at Damascus. The to be free, through petitioners appearing before the Umayyad period had followed the period of the first Fourth Committee. They hoped that, in the light of four caliphs and preceded that of the Abbasids of the conclusions in the report of the Ad Hoc Committee Baghdad. He wondered whether Mr. Glubb could on Oman (A/5846), the United Nations would help to explain why the Imamate had been established as a enable them to exercise their right to self-determina­ distinct entity from the Damascus Government, tion and independence. whether the system of government of the Imamate had been similar to that of the Caliphate and how it 14. Mr. SHAMMOLTT (Yemen) thanked the petitioners had differed from that of the Damascus Government for their replies and assured them of his Government's full support for their just demands. 20. Mr. GLUBB (Committee for the Rights of Oman) said that it was his view that it was only during the 150 Mr. MARRACHE (Syria) sHid that the report of Caliphate that a truly Islamic system of government the Ad Hoc Committee on Oman and the statements had prevailed. It was his understanding that Islamic made by the petitioners indicated that in about 1913 government was based on the Koranic injunction to there had been a religious and cultural revival in "give trusts to those worthy of them", which implied Oman which had led to a popular awakening and the that those who were to govern must be elected; con­ election of an Imam. He asked whether the petitioners sequently, Islam was essentially democratic. After could provide more information on the subject in the period of the first four caliphs, Mauawiyah, the view of the fact that there had been similar revivals founder of the Umayyad dynasty, had seized power earlier in other Islamic countrie;; and that the and from then on the Arab Government had been des­ Renaissance in Europe had begun with a religious potic. Only in Oman had the principle of popular revival. election been preserved and developed. 16. Sheikh T ALIB BIN ALI AL-RANI said that religion 21. Mr. MARRACHE (Syria) wondered whether the and politics were inseparable in Oman, in accordance petitioners had any data concerning the profits of with the principles of Islam. The Head of State of petroleum companies in the Arabian peninsula. It Oman had to consider two aspects in administering would be interesting to make a comparison with the country: the temporal and the spiritual. He must profits earned by companies operating in independent improve the living conditions of the people and countries. provide spiritual guidance. All the petitioners who had appeared before the Ad Hoc Committee on Oman 22. Mr. GLUBB (Committee for the Rights of Oman) had said clearly that they wished to have a progressive said that he had no figures on that matter. He had a government based on Islamic principles in Oman. copy of a concession now being worked by the Shell The principles of Islam in no way hindered the de­ Oil Company and he found in it no provision for the velopment of a modern State. The Head of State was sharing of profits with the State on a ~i fty-fifty basis, obliged to develop the country as much as possible; as was done in many countries. It was sigm;'icant that he was responsible for providing education and health the Sultan did not seem to be interested :1• .k~ining services to all the people and improving the country's the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, economyo Indeed, the United Kingdom had decided to although that Organization was designed to safeguard put an end to the Imamate in Oman when it had realized the interests of producers. He wondered whether that the present Imam was planning to develop the that was because the Sultan had some rather abnormal country economically and socially. Accordingly, United arrangement with the United Kingdom, allowing the Kingdom troops had invaded Oman, causing untold United Kingdom to exploit the oil in the interior in misery for the inhabitants. The people were living in exchange for certain privileges. mud huts. There were only two elementary schools 23. It was also interesting to note the United King­ remaining in Oman and one hospital, which did not dom Government's secrecy about the oilfields in treat Omanis. Oman. During 1963, the Committee for the Rights of 17. Mr. GLUBB (Committee for the Rights of Oman) Oman had published in Free Oman information which said that the events which had occurred in 1913 had it had managed to obtain on the discovery of oil in 1573rd meeting - 1 December 1965 353

Oman. The United Kingdom authorities had denied native of the State. To recognize it as such would the Committee's assertions, yet one year later an­ surely create a dangerous precedent for the :uture. noucements by Shell had confirmed the statements; Mr. Rahnema (Iran) took the Chair. Shell had also announced plans to build a pipeline, thirty inches in diameter, which was to be laid in the 28, Mrs. MENESES DE ALBIZl' CAMPOS (Cuba) earth to protect it from interference by tribesmen. asked what efforts the Committee for the Rights of Oman made to bring the problem of Oman to the 24. Mr. DIABATE (Guinea) said that the United attention of working people in the United Kingdolll. Kingdom representative had suggested at the 1571st meeting that certain Governments, which he had not 29. Mr. GLUBB (Committee for the Rights of Oman) named, were pursuing imperialistic policies in Oman. said that the Committee had recently ot'gamzed a While undoubtedly the Arab countries were giving large-scale campaign to inform workers in the Unitf)d assistance to their struggling brothers, he wondered Kingdom about the plight of workers in Om:m, where whether the petitioners would agree with the United it was illegal to organize or strike in order to obtair> Kingdom representative's allegation. more tolerable living conditions. He had met a person who had tried to establish a trade-union org:mizaiion 25. Mr. GLUBB (Comm:ttee for the Rights of Oman) in Muscat harbour and who had had to leave the coun­ said that it seemed strange to describe as imperialistic try in order to avoid the death penalty. The Com­ policies the assistance given by some countries to mittee for the Rights of Oman had sent a de!t·gation a lawful Government to repel aggression by an outside to the recent United Kingdom Trades Union Congress Power. As the Ad Hoc Committee had confirmed, the in order to approach delegates and hand out infor­ United Kingdom had invaded Oman before any military mation. Mr. Edwards, M.P., the Chairman of the aid had been offered by any Arab countries. The fact Committee for the Rights of Oman, had spoken at the was that an Arab country had been invaded and had Congress about the Government's policies in Oman. requested aid from other Arab countries in repelling the aggression. The United Kingdom argument, of 30. Mrs. MENESES DE ALBIZU CAMPOS (Cuba) course, was based on the theory that the elected observed that the present Government of the Pnited Government of the people of the interior was a "re­ Kingdom was supposed to be a Labour Government, bellious group". representing the working class. She wondered \Vhat it had done to improve the situation. 26. Mr. AL-RACHACH (Saudi Arabia) pointed out that the Ad Hoc Committee had found that the Sultanate 31. Mr. GLUBB (Committee for the Rights of Oman) was not a colony or protectorate in a formal sense; said that the new Government had done nothing to yet Mr. Glubb had referred at the previous meeting improve the situation in any of the areas of Arabia to the relevance of Chapter XI of the United Nations occupied by the United Kingdom. No move had been Charter, which concerned Non-Self-Governing Terri­ made towards ensuring better condition::, for the tories. He wondered how the petitioner would define workers in Oman, and in Bahrain a recent demonstra­ the status of Oman and in what way Chapter XI of the tion by trade unionists 'had been fiercely repref:s?d. Charter was relevant. 32. Mr. SZILAGYI (Hungary) asked 1\Ir. Glubb what was his reason for defending the cause of OmRn so 27. Mr. GLUBB (Committee for the Rights of Oman) vigorously. recalled that the meaning of the word "colony" in British constitutional usage had been outlined to the 33. Mr. GLUBB (Committee for the Rights of Oman\ Fourth Committee (1499th meeting) by the United said that he believed that the people of the C~1:tc·o Kingdom representative during the eighteenth session. Kingdom should value democracy since it wa:o i1: the The meaning of the term "protectorate" was fairly development of democracy that the lfnitccl [\:~ngdom clear, although forms of protectorates differed, and had made its chief contribution to the world. Un a L. Oppenheim, the British expert oninternationallaw, recent visit to the area, he hnd been impressed by had mentioned the Sultanate as an example of a pro­ the contradiction betwee1' democratic ideals anc: tectorate. He himself had suggested that it could what the United Kingdom was doing tn Oman r:.nd he perhaps be described as a disguised form of pro­ had been particularly concerned by the dishoneAty tectorate. For the United Nations, however, the ques­ shown by the local administration in try[ng to cover tion was whether the Sultanate was a Non-Self-Govern­ up what was happening. Informatic•1 0n violation·· rp' ing Territory. In his statement at the previous meeting, human rights was frequently :ow m·p;,~ed in r;olm:ies. he had drawn attention to the large number of United A dangerous situation was createn "' r;;,"Jf:rnments Kingdom personnel in the Sultan's Government and in democratic countries reSl'rted \I' uecei vi:1g tht:· the fact that the Sultan would not be able to exercise people. control over ()man without th0 assistance of the United 34. Mr. KISAKA (Kenya) wondered whether there Kingdom army. It would therefore seem that Oman was any movement in Oman which could form the was a Non-Self-Governing Territory. Further defini­ basis for the establishment of a democratic govern­ tion was not important: there might be questions, for ment there. example, regarding the exact status of Rhodesia and of the Portuguese Territories, but they were con­ 35. Mr. GLUBB (Committee for the Rights of Oman) sidered the proper object of United Nations concern. said that there was the Revolutionary Council 'Jf So also was Oman. Where a Government relied on the Oman, which had been established abroad and some presence of foreign troops in order to remain in of whose members were appearing with him as power, it could hardly be called a sovereign inde­ petitioners. There were also those fighting inside pendent State simply because the titular head was a Oman for the liberation of the country. The Revolu- 354 General Assembly - Twentieth Session - Fourth Committee tionary Council regularly sought the views ofOmanis, l'nited Kingdom had sought to gain possession of the p<.trticularly those living abroad; within Oman it was oil fields by extending the Sultan's rule to the Imamate. more difficult, but the people could be consulted That action had been a violation of the Treaty of Sib through the intermediary of the liberation organization and of Article 2, paragraph 4, of the United Nations there. Charter and was inconsistent with General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) and the principles of self­ 36. It was to be noted that nationalist activities in determination set out in Article 1. paragraph 2, of Oman did not come to the knowledge of the outside the Charter. In July 1955, in answer to a request world. Only three journalists had been allowed into from the Sultan, the L'nited Kingdom had sent troops · lman during the last ten years, and they had been supported by the Royal Air Force which had helped uand-picked. Recently the Omani Liberation J\Iove­ to occupy Nazwa and other towns. The leaders of the ment had succeeded in destroying an oil depot at revolt had begun a guerrrilla campaign which was Yuscat hut nothing had been reported in the world still continuing. The Royal Air Force had bombed Press. towns and villages and there were now at least The petitioners withdrew. 40,000 Omani refugees in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the Trucial Coast states and . The United King­ GENERAL DEBATE (continued) dom's contention that it had had to intervene mili­ tarily to support the Sultan because the Imamate was 37. l\Ir. AL-D).. OllD (Iraq) thanked the Chairman of receiving foreign aid was untenable; the British jurist the All Hoc Committee and his colleagues for the Sir Hartley Shawcross had said that such intervention good work they had clone in difficult circumstances. was inadmissible even at the request of a Government 38. At previous sessions of the General Assembly, a or in pursuance of a treaty. sub,.;t~mtial majority of the :\Iembers of the l'nitecl Nations had recogmzecl the right of the people of 42. The negotiations between the United Kingdom Oman to self-determination and independence and and the representatives of the Imam at in the haj called for the withdrawal of foreign forces from winter of 1960-1961 had failed because of United Om:m. Yet the people of Oman were still denied their Kingdom opposition. The Imam had been prepared rights. The l'nited .1\'ations, which by its adoption of to agree to terms on the basis of four principles: the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to namely, the right of the Om ani people to independence and self-determination, the withdrawal of United Colonial Countries and Peoples had assumed a primary responsibility for the liquidation of the colonial Kingdom armed forces and military bases, the release of political prisoners, and compensation for the system, could not remain indifferent to the fate of the people of Oman, who had long struggled for freedom damage and destruction caused by United Kingdom military action. anj independence.

39. The Imamate, an independent and sovereign 43. In response to a statement by the Chairman of political entity ruled by a popularly elected Imam, the Ad Hoc Committee on Oman (A/5846. annex III), \\'as perhaps the oldest democratic State, since it the Arab States had submitted a memorandum (A/ w2nt back to the eighth century and had been ruled 5846, annex IX) in which they had called for an end by an almost uninterrupted succes:sioc1 of elected to !'nited Kingdom colonial rule and the transfer of Jmams. It hac! never been a vassal St3te but had all sovereign power to the true representatives of the c:on::;i stentl:· enjoyed full sovereignty with all the people in accordance with General Assembly reso­ attributes of statehood and had played a major role lution 1514 (XV). The memorandum had also drawn in the history of Arab civilization. It had. however. attention to the Pnited Kingdom's policy of repression becom2 a target for Fnited Kingdom imperialism, in Oman and had stated that the question of Oman wh1ch had acquired control of the coastal areas of should he referred to the Special Committee on the the Persian Gul! and established a chain of protec­ Situation with regard to the Implementation of the torates along the coast of Eastern Arabia. Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colo­ nial Countries and Peoples. The representative of 40 Before the l'nited Kingdom had begun prospecting Morocco, in presenting the memorandum to the Ad for oil within the Imamate, the latter had been fully Hoc Committee. had saicl that the cjuestion concerned sovereign and independent; 1ts independence had been the entire 1\Iiddle East and Africa (A, 5846, annex VIII). confirmed by the Treaty of Sib signed in1920 between the Sultan of1Iuscat and representatives of the Jmanntc 44. The Sultan of Muscat had refused to allow the af' a result of l'nitecl Kingdom intervention and media­ memhers of the Ad Hoc Committee to visit any part tlOn. That tredty had demonstrated the existence of of :\Iuscat or Oman but had agreed to meet the Chair­ two separate political entities by laying clo\\·n mutual man of that Committee in London. The circumstances oblig,ttions binding the two States and had constituted of the refusal of the Ad Hoc Committee's request for de facto recognition of Omani independence. It must permission to visit Sharjah had heen described in lJe considered an international legal instrument con­ paragraph 43 of the Committee's report; in the opinion cluded by two equal and independent negotiators with of the Iraqi de legation, the United Kingdom Govern­ the l'nited Kingdom as a witness. ment alone was to blame for that refusal, for the Sheikh of Sharjah had never been asked to give his 41. \\'hen, in 1955, it had become evident that the views. The Committee had heard the views of the Imam Ghalib bin Ali would not recognize the oil Im<.tm and had discussed the degree of popular support concession granted by the Sultan to a United Kingdom for him; it had concluded, in paragraph 670 of its com,Jany in 1937 in violation of the Treaty of Sib, the report. that the population was solidly behind the 1573rd meeting - 1 December 1965 355

Imam and, in paragraph 672, that the Cnited Kingdom sovereign power to the true representatives of the intervention was difficult to justify. people.

45. On the evidence of the Imam and the petitioners, 49. In an article entitled "Britain and the Arabs: The it was the United Kingdom which governed in Oman, Need for a New Start," l'ublishetl in October 1964 m th::ough the Sultan. The Sultan's rule was harsh and Int(3rnational Affairs, volume 40, Professor ArnQld unjust, and the social, economic and educational con­ Toynbee said that when the llnited Kingdom granted ditions were appalling. There were only three schools a nominal independence to an unrepresentative ruleT and health conditions were very poor. and kept him in power by force of arms, that so-called independence was a sham, and that, as the llnited 46. As a result of the second meeting of the Arab Kingdom would have to leave Arabia eventually, it Heads of State, held at Alexandria in September 1964, would do better to go quietly, and above all quickly. a mission of the League of Arab States, headed by the Secretary-General of the League had gone to 50. Mr. WAZIRI (Afghanistan) congratulated the Eastern /\rabia in order to offer technical help to the Rapporteur of the :\d Hoc Committee on Oman on sheikhdoms in Trucial Oman and had been warmly the Committee's report and thanked the Special welcomed by the rulers and people of the area. A Representative of the Secretary-General and all those technical team consisting of twenty men had then who had contributed to the success ofthe Com:nittee's drawn up, with the rulers, a development programme work. It was significant that all the conclusiLll1S in the for the establishment of hospitals, schools, fresh­ Ad Hoc Committee's report, and indeed all parts of water and electrical installations, agriculturale>.:peri­ the report, had been accepted unanimously by th

48. The Iraqi delegation supported those just demands 55. The Committee should give the most seri;"JS and called for the removal of the United Kingdom bases consideration to the conclusion of the Ad Hoc Com- in Masirah and Salalah, which were a threat to the mittee, especially those st:1ting tl·.tt the rn·olJlt-11' peace and security of the Arab world and of Africa derived from foreign interv '· •ti11n iL '\lu~c:1t al1cl and whose existence was contrary to the wishes of the Oman and that it should be dealt , 1 y tne .tppro­ people of Oman. His delegation fully agreed with the priate United Nations bodies ancl by lhc methods that

statements in paragraphs 689 and 690 of the _!:\d Hoc the United Nations had used in JL.: 1Jast in such cases. Committee's report and with the Committee's conchl­ He hoped that the discussions in the Committee v<;ould sions, especially those in paragraphs 693-696 of the result in the adoption of clear and concrete measures report. If a solution along those lines was not found, by the General Assembly. the Omani people would be forced to resort to other means to attain freedom and independence. The United Organization of work Nations should take steps through the Special Com­ mittee on the Situation with regard to the Implemen­ 56o The CHAIRI\IAN recalled that, at its 1564t)1 mt·et­ tation of the Declaration on the Granting of Inde­ ing, the Committee had granted a request for a hearing pendence to Colonial Countries and Peoples to (A/C.4/650/Add.1) to Mr. Andr~ Kassinda, National implement resolution 1514 (XV) and to put an end to Chairman of the Conselho do Povo Angolano (CPA), who United Kingdom colonial rule in Oman by transferring wished to speak about Territories under Portuguese 356 General Assembly - Twentieth Session - Fourth Committee administration. He had been informed that the peti­ on Oman and hear the petitioner at the beginning of tioner was now in New York but there were urgent the following meeting. reasons why he should return home as soon as possible. It was so decided. He therefore suggested that, if there were no objec­ tions, the Committee should interrupt its discussion The meeting rose at 1.15 p.m.

L!tho m U.N. 77401-May 1966-2,250