TRUCIAL COAST DIARY FOR PERIOD ENDING 26 JANUARY 1952

GENERAL:

The most notable event during the period under review has been the heaviest fall of rain on the Trucial Coast for several years. The Sharjah, Jabal Ali and Ras Sadr airstrips were unusable for sometime after the rain, and the Jabal Ali airstrip is still flooded, as are all the car tracks which run across the sabkas. Some of the Shaikhdoms have been cut-off by road for several days. The coast is already looking much greener, and the badu is a very happy man; it is only the Europeans with tight programmes or two wheel drive vehicles who have lifted their eyes hoping to see a blue sky.

KALBA AND THE JAWASIM:

Although seven months have passed since the Ruler of Kalba was murdered, it is still the intention of the Politicals to punish …to prove that accession to power by assassination is now out-dated in Oman. With nothing in particular in mind, the Political Officer Trucial States called together the Jawasim Shaikhs to discuss the situation. Several proposals were put forward at the meeting, but the Shaikhs were unable to reach any agreement.

One of the proposals was that Kalba should be brought under the direct control of Sharjah: another that Humaid bin Mohd of Ras al Khaima should be installed as Ruler - a proposal by Mohd bin Sallim which only received the support of his hard-up relations. The third, and by far the most popular proposal with all but the Political Officer Trucial States was that Sultan bin Salim, the father of the present Ruler should be made Ruler of Kalba.

The reason for the popularity of the latter proposal (although there is no possibility of it being agreed to by HMG) is two-fold: firstly, Sultan bin Sallim is a thorn in the side of the Ruler of Ras al Khaima, and his instatement in Kalba would not only remove one of the Ruler’s many troubles, but it would no longer be necessary for him to make him any grant from the concession payments. Secondly, during the period he spent there in exile, Sultan bin Sallim got on good terms with Muscat, and it is thought that if he became Ruler of Kalba he might use his influence to regain the small pieces of Kalba territories that in the past years have been lost to Muscat, via Fujaira.