ARAB AFFAIRS - March 16 - Bahrain-Qatar Border Deal.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague rules a solution to Bahrain-Qatar territorial disputes. It awards the disputed Huwar islands, including the Dibal and Jarada shoals, to Bahrain; and the Zubarah enclave and land strip in north-western ern Qatar to Qatar. Qatar also gets a small island, rights to free navigation between the Huwar islands and the ability, through Zubarah, to consolidate its hold over the huge gas reserves of the North Field and nearby structures. Bahrain FM Shaikh Mubarak Al Khalifa says this is a victory for the island state. Qatari FM Shaikh Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jabor Al Thani says, "it gives Qatar 80% of its claim but the ruling is acceptable to Qatar". Both states declare March 17 a "national holiday" for the ICJ ruling, with the two governments agreeing in principle to a proposed bridge linking Qatar to Bahrain to be built. Bahraini Emir Shaikh Hamad Bin Issa Al Khalifa later went to Saudi Arabia to thank the Saudi leadership for having played a mediating role (a role which influenced ICJ's ruling). Qatar's Emir Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani also thanked the Saudi leadership. (The ruling is almost identical to that given by Britain as the protectorate power more than 60 years ago. The dispute had brought the two states to the brink of war in 1986, when Qatari forces arrested 29 workers employed by Dutch contractor Ballast Nedam sent to build a coastguard station on one of the disputed areas).