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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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United Arab Emirates
Index
Armed Forces: Known as Union Defense Force. In
mid-1993
personnel strength 57,500: army, 53,000; navy, 2,000; and
air
force, 2,500. Army uses French and Italian main battle
tanks and
wide assortment of other armored vehicles. In addition to
several
gun boats, navy operates six Exocet-equipped guided
missile
boats. Combat aircraft include Mirages, Hawks, and
Aeromacchi MB326s .
Overview
THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (UAE) in 1993 was a federation
of
seven separate amirates that had joined together in the
winter of
1971-72 to form a single independent country. The new
nation was
created out of the British dependencies that had been
known as
the Trucial Coast states (also seen as Trucial Oman or
Oman
Coast) since 1853 when Britain and the local rulers signed
the
Treaty of Maritime Peace in Perpetuity, an agreement that
ceded
to London responsibility for foreign affairs. The
individual
amirates of the UAE include Abu Dhabi (also seen as Abu
Zaby),
Ajman, Al Fujayrah, Dubayy (also seen as Dubai), Ras al
Khaymah,
Sharjah (also seen as Ash Shariqah), and Umm al Qaywayn.
The UAE's oil resources make it one of the wealthiest
countries in the world. The oil and the revenues it
generates,
however, are not equitably distributed. Revenues from
petroleum
exports accrue principally to the government of Abu Dhabi,
where
more than 80 percent of the oil is located. Three other
amirates-
-Dubayy, Ras al Khaymah, and Sharjah--account for the
remainder
of the UAE's oil production. Nevertheless, since the
formation of
the UAE, Abu Dhabi has made significant annual
contributions to
the federal budget. Federal expenditures on development
projects
in the amirates lacking oil enable them to benefit, albeit
modestly, from the overall oil wealth.
The UAE's oil-fueled economic growth has been
accomplished
with the assistance of thousands of foreign workers.
Citizens
composed only 12 percent of the 1.9 million people living
in the
UAE in 1991 and constituted only 7 percent of the labor
force.
The foreign workers come from other Arab countries and
from
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Britain, India, Iran, Pakistan,
the
Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, the United
States, and
Western Europe. The presence of such a large and diverse
foreign
community provides a cosmopolitan atmosphere to the cities
of Abu
Dhabi and Dubayy. However, throughout the 1980s, there was
growing resentment of foreigners among many UAE citizens,
who
felt uncomfortable being a minority, although a very
privileged
one, within their own country.
The rulers have been conscious that their country's
small
size and population, combined with relatively large oil
revenues,
make the UAE vulnerable in the context of regional
politics.
During the 1980s, the UAE tried to maintain its neutrality
in the
Iran-Iraq War (1980-88) by providing modest loans for the
Iraqi
war effort and permitting Dubayy to serve as a major port
of
entry for goods being transshipped to Iran. The UAE also
joined
the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a collective security
and
cooperation association, established in 1981, of the six
oilproducing Arabian Peninsula states. After Iraq invaded and
occupied fellow GCC member Kuwait in 1990, the UAE joined
the
international military coalition that opposed and
eventually
defeated Iraq. In 1992 tensions with Iran over disputed
islands
in the Persian Gulf induced the UAE to expand its military
cooperation with the United States.
Data as of January 1993
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