United Nations 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 Oman: 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<trticularly from United from conducting its campaign. Nevertheless, the Kingdom sources, to substantiate that asse~tion. members were subjected to harassment and sur­ veillance, and their mail was intercepted. 3. l\Ir. GLUBB (Committee for the Rights of Om.1n) replied that there was considerable evidence from 9. l\Ir. SHAl\Il\IIOUT (Yemen) asked whether the peti­ reliable United Kingdom sources. For example, Com­ tioners could comment on the llnited Kingdom military mander Thomas Fox Pitt, the former Secretary of ba3es in Oman and on whether those bases constituted the Anti-Slavery Society, who could not be described a threat to neighbouring independent States. as an agent of the Omani Liberation Movement, had said in a booklet entitled "Why Tolerate Slavery" that 10. Sheikh TALIB BIN ALI AL-HANI said that the the United Kingdom policy in Oman had the effect of United Kingdom bases in the Arab countries were preserving slavery because, by supporting the Sultan, part of a general strategic plan for the l\Iiddle East. the lTnited Kingdom was in fact supporting slavery. In For example, whenever the l'nited Kingdom troops a letter dated 29 .June 1964 to The Times, of London, in Oman required reinforcements, they called for Colonel Montgomery, the present Secretary of the them from hases in surrounding areas. United Kingdom Society, had said that by lending officers to the armed b;ues throughout the world constituted a threat to forces of the Sultan of Muscat the tTnited Kingdom international peace and security, since they were Government was supporting slavery. There were used not only to suppress people struggling to gain many l_~nited Kingdom servicemen in Oman who dis­ freedom but against newly independent countries in approved of United Kingdom policy in that area and order to safeguard United Kingdom interests. The 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.