ABU DHABI Ñ Oman and the United Arab Emirates have concluded an
agreement on their border in another step toward ending long-running feuds
between Gulf Cooperation Council states.
Oman and the UAE exchanged documents on the border agreement in what
officials from both countries said was a step meant to increase security
cooperation between Abu Dhabi and Muscat. The documents exchanged on
Saturday delineate the UAE-Omani border from east of Al Aqeedat to Al Daar
on the Gulf coast, Middle East Newsline reported.
"We are all proud of it," UAE Deputy Prime Minister Hamdan Bin Zayed Al
Nahyan said in Sohar, located 300 kilometers north of the Omani capital of
Muscat. "Today is a historic day for the UAE and Oman."
The border agreement was completed in June 2002 when Oman's Sultan
Qaboos met UAE President Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi. Officials
said the exchange of the border documents formally ends the demarcation
process.
The border was delineated from Umm Zamoul to Al Daar in the north.
Hamdan said the border accord will pave the way for cooperation in a range
of fields.
Over the last three years, several GCC states have resolved their
sometimes bloody border disputes. They include border feuds between Bahrain
and Qatar as well as Saudi Arabia and its neighbors.
GCC states still engage in confrontations over their territorial waters.
Over the last week, Qatar's Coast Guard seized 18 Bahraini fishing boats
along the martime border between the two countries. So far, Doha's Coast
Guard was said to have captured 36 Bahraini vessels.
The border between Bahrain and Qatar was resolved in 2001 at the
International Court of Justice.
