Rival for Ras al-Khaimah throne leaves emirate

By Simeon Kerr in Ras al-Khaimah

Published: October 28 2010 22:25 | Last updated: October 28 2010 22:25

Sheikh Khalid bin Saqr al-Qassimi, pretender to the throne of Ras al-Khaimah, left the emirate as a succession crisis reached its denouement on Thursday.

On Wednesday Sheikh Khalid’s younger brother, Sheikh Saud, was confirmed as ruler of Ras al-Khaimah after their father, Sheikh Saqr, succumbed to a long illness. Sheikh Saqr had ruled the small but strategically important member of the United Arab Emirates for 62 years.

The transition of power in Ras al-Khaimah had been preordained in 2003, when Sheikh Saud replaced Sheikh Khalid as crown prince.

But the return of Sheikh Khalid, who has spent little time in the emirate since his demotion, prompted the UAE security forces to make a public display of strength to underline federal support for the new ruler. They also want to prevent any outbreak in violence that would tarnish the federation’s reputation for political stability.

This week’s machinations echo the rise to power of Sheikh Saqr in 1948, when the then-ruler was temporarily trapped in his residence by armed Bedouin as his family initiated a palace coup.

Sheikh Khalid slipped into Ras al-Khaimah with an armed entourage on the night his father died, but was quickly isolated by federal forces.

A person close to Sheikh Khalid said his head of security, Scott Fishback, a former British army soldier, and the armed guards had been removed from the palace and their whereabouts were unknown. Sheikh Khalid did not attend his father’s funeral on Wednesday. The official line, confirmed by independent sources in the emirate, is that he made unacceptable preconditions for his attendance. The person close to Sheikh Khalid says he was not allowed to attend.

For years, the ousted crown prince has campaigned for his return to power, lobbying politicians in Washington with claims that his brother has tolerated undue Iranian influence in the emirate, which traditionally enjoys and trade links with the Islamic republic.

On Wednesday, the UAE supreme council gave its full support to Sheikh Saud. In reaction, Sheikh Khalid issued a statement that he would only accept the constitutional will of the whole family and the tribes, “not a decision taken by others for their own economic benefit”.

Sheikh Khalid has some allies in Ras al-Khaimah’s prominent Khatri tribe, but there have only been limited displays of support for him over the past two days.

Theodore Karasik, of the Institute for the Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, says the question now is how much noise Sheikh Khalid will make as the federal authorities move to tie up the loose ends.

“He has the support of some Ras al-Khaimah tribes and UAE figures but how are officials going to react to possible continued foreign interference in domestic issues?” he said. “How events play out will be interesting: the concept of national unity is being tested.”

Thursday, 07 January 2010, 07:41

C O N F I D E N T I A L DUBAI 000001

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/FO

NEA/ARP/BMCGOVERN

EO 12958 DECL: 2020/01/07

TAGS EAIR, ECON, PGOV, PREL, AE

SUBJECT: RAK Airport Sleepy, but with Residual Russian Connection

CLASSIFIED BY: Justin Siberell, Consul General, U.S. Consulate General, Dubai; REASON: 1.4(B), (D)

Summary

1.               The cables reveals that aircraft belonging to Viktor Bout – the alleged Russian arms dealer extradited to the US last month – are rotting at a ‘sleepy’ airport in the United Arab Emirates. Key passages highlighted in yellow.

2.               Read related article

1.     (C) Summary: The Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Airport is attempting to reinvent itself as a cargo transit point for the RAK Free Zone in the wake of RAK Airways suspension of regular commercial flights in late 2008. The airport is also working to distance itself from its reputation as a transport facilitator for clients such as international arms trafficker Victor Bout, who used the RAK airport as a base of operations. The Wing Air aircraft once linked to Victor Bout are grounded and effectively abandoned. Former RAK Airport CEO Michelle Soliman conveyed continuing concerns about the airport’s reputation and client base, however, and is seeking to identify "more desirable" clients as the airport increases its operations. End Summary.

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Passengers Slow to Come

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2.     (SBU) Former Ras al Khaimah Airport CEO Michelle Soliman told ConGen Dubai PolOff and Embassy Abu Dhabi OFAC Attache shortly before her December resignation that RAK Airport’s growth has been hindered by the failure of its "national" airline, RAK Airways, which began operations in November 2007, but stopped scheduled flights just over a year later in December 2008 as a result of the economic downturn (Note: RAK Airways still operates a Boeing 757 on a wet-lease basis to Hewa Bora Airlines in the Democratic Republic of Congo. End Note.).

Although Oussame El Omari, the CEO of the RAK Free Zone (RAK FZ) recently speculated that RAK Airways would become the UAE’s newest bargain airline similar to Fly Dubai and Air Arabia, Soliman saw little prospect for RAK Airways resumption of commercial air services given insufficient operating funds and high management turnover, including seven CEO’s in just two years.

3. (SBU) RAK Airways uncertain future is, Soliman believes, dissuading other passenger airlines from establishing regularly scheduled flights to RAK out of concern that the limited air rights available at RAK airport could be rescinded if RAK Airways begins to operate again. Although a new arrival terminal opened on September 1, 2009, the only passenger flights to RAK airport are four tourism-related chartered flights a week from Europe which began in October 2009.

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Focus on Cargo

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3.     (U) To boost its cargo business, RAK Airport, according to Soliman, has negotiated with RAK Customs to allow companies in the RAK FZ not to pay customs fees on goods going directly from the free zone to the airport as long as the goods depart within 10 days. Some of the free zone companies utilizing this deal are shipping armored vehicles to Afghanistan on cargo flights. Soliman told Poloff and OFACATT that one idea for future expansion of the airport’s cargo business with the RAK FZ would be to make part of the airport a free zone so that goods could transfer directly.

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The Russian Connection

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3.     (C) Soliman told OFACATT that Wing Air Services, a company publicly linked to international arms trafficker and UN sanctions target Victor Bout, is still on the Airport’s registration list only because it is the last registered owner of the IL-76 aircraft

and Gulfstream jet now effectively abandoned at RAK Airport on their parking apron. Soliman said Mach Avia Services was at one time identified as the agent of the IL-76, but eventually "washed its hands of it" and claimed that Wing Air Services was responsible for the aircraft. Soliman took EmbOffs on a tour of the airport that included a viewing of Wing Air aircraft. The Wing Air Gulfstream was completely gutted, apparently cannibalized for parts. Soliman said that the Russian companies were kept on short-term lease arrangements so that they could be moved out of RAK as soon more desirable clients could be found (Note: Soliman also pointed out as suspect two new Bombardier CRJ jets worth USD 50 million abandoned by their owners immediately after they arrived. Soliman said the owners are impossible to reach, although sporadically maintenance people show up. End Note).

4.      (C) OFACATT asked Soliman if she knew of any links between the Russian maintenance facility at RAK airport, identified on the website azworldairports.com as the Shahed/Aircess facility, and the Sharjah-based Aircess company that served as the headquarters for Victor Bout’s network until its designation by the UN in November 2005. Soliman said that as far as she knew, the facility was run by the company Mach Avia Services, but that Mach Avia’s General Manager (GM) Hussein Obeid is also the general manager of a company called Shahed, which according to Obeid’s business card provides "Air Services". Soliman noted that Mach Avia was originally registered as the agent for the Victor Bout linked Wing Air IL-76 when it arrived at RAK Airport in March 2004, but later advised the airport that the plane belonged to Wing Air Services. Abousaeda Mustafa, a Russian, informed RAK Airport that the Wing Air IL-76 aircraft had been sold on January 14, 2009 by Libyan Arab Air Cargo to ILEX or ELEX Ventures Limited Company (NFI). Soliman said that RAK Airport could not confirm the validity or authenticity of the documents presented by Mustafa, and that consequently the airport submitted them to the RAK Courts.

7. (C) Comment: Despite its lack of passenger traffic, RAK Airport is looking for opportunities to grow, such as focusing on cargo and drawing in legitimate clients. However, it seems that it will not be an easy road ahead as it still has to deal with legacy issues such as the Wing Air services aircraft, a grounded RAK Airways, and semi-abandoned jets with unreachable owners. Soliman’s resignation from her post as CEO subsequent to this visit also highlights RAK Airport’s inability to keep consistent management at the helm; Soliman is the sixth CEO to leave RAK Airport since 2006. End Comment.

SIBERELL SIBERELL

Exiled crown prince Sheikh Khalid bin Saqr al-Qasimi returns to Ras al-Khaimah to reclaim ‘birthright’ from half-brother

· Robert Booth

· guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 27 October 2010 17.50 BST

Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammad al-Qassimi, left, the late ruler of Ras al-Khaimah, with his son Sheikh Khalid. Photograph: Nasser Younes/AFP/Getty Images

One of the most bizarre international coup attempts of recent times, whose key players include a family solicitor from Buckinghamshire and an exiled Arab crown prince, entered its endgame today with the death of Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammad al-Qasimi, the world’s longest-serving ruler, who led the Gulf emirate of Ras al-Khaimah (RAK) for 62 years.

Immediately after the 92-year-old sheikh died at dawn, his eldest son, the exiled crown prince, Sheikh Khalid bin Saqr al-Qasimi, re-entered the kingdom and went to the presidential palace in a bid to reclaim what he believes is his birthright from his younger half-brother, who has claimed the crown. It follows an extraordinary two-year public relations and lobbying campaign by the exiled sheikh who employed Peter Cathcart, a partner in a Middlesex family law firm, to co-ordinate a multi-million pound public relations and lobbying budget aimed at returning him to power. Cathcart is better known locally for his enthusiasm for driving miniature steam railway engines and his chairmanship of the parish council.

RAK is the smallest of the seven emirates, but Sheikh Khalid, who has been living in exile in London and Oman, has used Californian PR firms, Washington lobbyists and American ex-special forces officers to claim it has fallen under Iranian influence and that the kingdom was used as a port for smuggling parts for weapons into Iran and had become a "centre of gravity" for "potential terrorist funding for al-Qaida, Taliban, al-Shabaab". The campaign, costing at least £2.6m according to documents seen by the Guardian, also involved lobbying Hillary Clinton and the Israeli ambassador to London and publishing critical reports on the military and political direction of the current regime.

The government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) issued a statement of condolence through the state news agency WAM, which stated that Sheikh Khalid’s younger half-brother, the crown prince Sheikh Saud bin Saqr al-Qasimi, has succeeded as ruler. Sheikh Khalid did not accept the statement and issued a video message asserting his claim to the throne, and shortly afterwards described the UAE report of Sheikh Saud’s succession as unacceptable.

"In honour of my father, I want the constitution on the succession in Ras al-Khaimah to be honoured where the whole family and tribes decide the succession," he said. "I will accept the outcome of a constitutional vote, not a decision taken by others for their own economic benefit … In the coming hours and days, I look forward to meeting with family, friends, members of the supreme council and rulers of the emirates to discuss our shared vision for Ras al-Khaimah and its great people. Until then, we will mourn together as a family, a community and a nation."

Cathcart, who was working at his office in Ickenham, Middlesex, today , did not return calls.

Sheikh Saud announced 40 days of mourning during which flags in the emirate will be flown at half mast and radio stations across the UAE switched to playing recitations of the Qur’an and classical music.

The outcome of the tussle for power will provide a barometer of the direction of the UAE, according to Dr Christopher Davidson of Durham University, an expert in the region. He said the most powerful emirates are the broadly pro-western Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and they should in principle be sympathetic to Sheikh Khalid’s argument about the danger of Iranian influence in RAK. However, they must be careful not to alienate the emirate’s poorer and more Islamist population. For this reason, many observers believe that Sheikh Saud bin Saqr al-Qasimi will prevail.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/27/death-sheikh-saqr-fight-succession-gulf

Emirate leader’s death could end older son’s struggle for power

•UAE’s hereditary rulers confirm Sheikh Saud as emirate’s ruler

•Exiled older son returns to mourn but still asserts his legal right to the throne

o

· Robert Booth

· guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 27 October 2010 15.34 BST

Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammad al-Qasimi, left, the late ruler of Ras al-Khaimah, part of the UAE, with his son Sheikh Khalid before he was deposed as crown prince. Photograph: Nasser Younes/AFP/Getty Images

A multimillion-dollar public relations campaign run from London and California aimed at seizing control of a strategically sensitive Gulf emirate entered its endgame today with the death of the leader of Ras al-Khaimah, Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammad al-Qasimi, the world’s longest-serving ruler.

Sheikh Saqr, 92, passed away at dawn after a long illness, sparking a final struggle between his two sons to succeed him. RAK is the smallest of the seven that make up the United Arab Emirates but is considered its most Islamist, and the Sheikh’s oldest son, Sheikh Khalid bin Saqr al-Qasimi, who has been living in exile in London and Oman, had launched an intense PR and political lobbying campaign suggesting that it has fallen under Iranian influence, as well as stating his case that he is the legitimate succesor. His campaign has featured claims, disputed by RAK, that the emirate has even acted as a port for smuggling parts for weapons into Iran.

Sheikh Khalid hired an English solicitor, Peter Cathcart, to oversee the PR campaign, which involved lobbying Hilary Clinton, the Israeli ambassador to London and publishing critical reports on the military and the political direction of RAK’s leadership.

However, his claim on power received a major setback this morning when the government of the UAE issued a statement of condolence through the state news agency WAM, which stated that Sheikh Khalid’s younger half brother, the crown prince Sheikh Saud bin Saqr al-Qasimi, has succeeded as ruler.

Sheikh Khalid’s response, meanwhile, was to assert his legal right to the throne in a statement and video message, announcing that he would lobby the emirates supreme council, made up of the seven hereditary rulers of the emirates. "In the coming hours and days, I look forward to meeting with family, friends, members of the supreme council and rulers of the emirates to discuss our shared vision for Ras al-Khaimah and its great people," he said. "Until then, we will mourn together as a family, a community and a nation."

Sheikh Saud, RAK’s recognised ruler, has announced 40 days’ mourning, during which flags in the emirate will be flown at half mast and radio stations across the UAE switched to playing recitations of the Koran and classical music. Sheikh Khalid is understood to have crossed into RAK as soon as he heard of his father’s death and is currently at the presidential palace where, according to unconfirmed reports, there is a military presence including armored cars and water cannon.

The outcome of the tussle for power will provide a barometer of the direction of the UAE, according to Dr Christopher Davidson, an expert in the region at Durham University. He said the most powerful emirates are the broadly pro-western Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and they should, in principle, be sympathetic to Sheikh Khalid’s argument about the danger of Iranian influence in RAK. However, they must be careful not to alienate the emirate’s poorer population and that is the reason many observers believe Sheikh Saud will prevail.

The attempt to take control of RAK by Sheikh Khalid has taken some bizarre twists. In Cathcart, he appointed an unlikely figure to lead a coup. The Ickenham based partner in a family law firm is a minature steam railway enthusiast and parish council chairman who lives on the fringes of the west London suburb. However, he emerged as a key player in Sheikh Khalid’s strategy and has been responsible for investing at least $3.7m (£2.6m) of Khalid’s money in a network of highly paid US PR consultants, Washington lobbyists and former US special forces strategists.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/27/emirate-leader-dies-exiled-son

Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed al-Qasimi obituary

World’s longest-serving monarch who transformed the emirate of Ras al-Khaimah

o

· Jonathan Fryer

· guardian.co.uk, Monday 1 November 2010 18.57 GMT

Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed al-Qasimi in 2003. Photograph: Nasser Younes/AFP/Getty Images

Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed al-Qasimi of Ras al-Khaimah, who has died aged 92, was the world’s longest-serving ruler. He oversaw the transformation of that Arab emirate, strategically located in the north, from a sleepy backwater dependent on a declining pearling and fishing industry into what is today one of the fastest growing and economically diverse parts of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

For generations, the al-Qasimi royal family, who were in the 19th century branded as pirates by Britain’s imperial naval commanders, maintained a fierce independence from their neighbours. Saqr agreed only reluctantly to allow Ras al-Khaimah (RAK) to become part of the UAE in 1972. Being linked to larger and wealthier emirates such as Abu Dhabi and Dubai nonetheless proved useful, as RAK failed to discover significant reserves of oil or gas of its own and has therefore at times depended on federal subsidies.

Born in RAK, Saqr was one of the sons of Sheikh Mohammed, who ruled only briefly before being sidelined by the British in favour of his supposedly more compliant younger brother, Sultan. When Sultan was declared ruler in 1921, the whole emirate had fewer than 15,000 inhabitants, no schools and very little infrastructure, other than a small port in a sheltered creek.

Saqr was educated at home by local Islamic clerics, as well as a tutor from the Najd region of Saudi Arabia, becoming a noted scholar in the teachings of the Qur’an and the Hadith, or sayings and deeds of the prophet Muhammad. He also became passionate about history – later teasing British officials about the way London had ordered HMS Liverpool to bombard RAK’s capital in 1819 – and he honed his skills in the traditional sport of falconry.

More than one British official referred to the tenacious Saqr as a "wily old bird" and it was true that he demonstrated considerable political skill, even cunning. After ousting his uncle Sultan in a bloodless coup in 1948, he then set about uniting and winning the loyalty of his emirate’s disparate population, which included fishers, bedouin and indigenous mountain tribes. He also angrily disputed what he said was the illegal Iranian occupation of three islands that had traditionally been under al-Qasimi control.

Thanks partly to exploration fees from foreign oil companies, Saqr was able to fund the establishment of schools for boys and girls, a hospital and the expansion of the port. But the failure to find much oil meant RAK instead relied increasingly on the exploitation of minerals in its Hajar mountains and the production and export of ceramics.

When Harold Wilson’s Labour government started Britain’s withdrawal from East of Suez in the late 1960s, the Trucial States or Arabian Gulf protectorates, which included RAK, decided that they needed to unite if they were to cope with independence. Bahrain and Qatar chose to go their own way, and it took a year to persuade Saqr that RAK should become an integral part of the UAE. These negotiations centred on how much clout RAK would have within the new federation, despite its relative poverty, and most observers agreed that Saqr brokered rather a good deal.

For many years, Saqr, his various wives and a growing number of children inhabited an old fort, which is now an ethnographic museum. He largely eschewed the extravagant trappings of royalty savoured by some of his Emirati counterparts and as he gradually outlived them, he acquired enhanced status in the region. In the 1980s, he handed much of the day-to-day running of RAK to his eldest son, Khalid, who oversaw much of the emirate’s modernisation. It therefore came as something of a shock in 2003 when Saqr replaced Khalid with his younger half-brother, Saud, who has effectively run the emirate ever since. Khalid went into exile in Muscat and Sharjah, but returned to RAK on learning of his father’s death, in order to stake his claim to be the rightful heir.

Saud has been accused by critics of snuggling up too closely to Iran, from which RAK is separated by the narrow Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant proportion of the world’s oil tankers pass. As the UAE is one of the US’s closest allies in the region, this has caused certain diplomatic tensions, though how much Saqr was aware of this during his long years of illness is a matter for conjecture.

Saqr is believed to be survived by some of his wives and at least four sons and two daughters.

• Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed al-Qasimi, ruler of Ras al-Khaimah, born 1918; died 27 October 2010

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/01/sheikh-saqr-bin-mohammed-al-qasimi

Thursday, 28 October 2010 3:25 PM

Emirati men walk past a banner bearing Arabic obituary writing and the picture of Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed al-Qassimi, ruler of the emirate of Ras al-Khaimah. (AFP/Getty Images)

Sheikh Khalid bin Saqr Al Qasimi, son of the deceased ruler of Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE, has contested his brother’s succession to the throne, which has been endorsed by the UAE.

“I want the Constitution on the succession in Ras Al Khaimah to be honored, where the whole family and tribes decide the succession,” Khalid said in a statement from the emirate sent by e-mail by a spokesman. “I will accept the outcome of a constitutional vote, not a decision taken by others for their own economic benefit.”

The Emirates’ Supreme Council Wednesday approved Sheikh Khalid’s younger half-brother, Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, as the new ruler, according to the official news agency WAM.

Ras Al Khaimah, one of the seven members of the UAE, lies on the Strait of Hormuz, an artery for a fifth of the world’s oil. It was ruled by Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed Al Qasimi between 1948 and his death Wednesday at the age of 92. In 2003, Sheikh Saqr switched his preference to Sheikh Saud as heir. Sheikh Khalid alleges that his half-brother fosters trade with RAK’s near-neighbor, Iran.

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/rak-emirate-s-khalid-contests-succession-after-father-s-death-358747.html

November 1, 2010

The Politics Of Succession In Ra’s Al-Khaimah

Christopher Davidson

Last week the tiny Persian Gulf emirate of Ra’s al-Khaimah was catapulted into the international spotlight after the latest episode in a decade-long struggle for supremacy between two rival brothers and their respective backers.  Although barren of oil and gas, the emirate’s chequered history has frequently drawn attention from near and far.  As one of the seven constituent members of the United Arab Emirates federation, its stability has always been of concern to the UAE’s wealthiest emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, especially given its large population of indigenous UAE nationals or ‘Emiratis’ in a country otherwise saturated by foreign workers.  But more importantly, Ra’s al-Khaimah is also the closest emirate to Iran – just 60 km across the sea – and is near the supertanker shipping lanes of the Straits of Hormuz.  As such it has become a focal point in the broader US-Tehran regional standoff.

Ruled by the patriarchs of the Qawasim (‘Al-Qasimi’) tribe, who were supported and protected by Britain from the 1820s until imperial withdrawal from the Persian Gulf in 1971, Ra’s al-Khaimah’s longest-serving monarch was Sheikh Saqr bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi.  Saqr claimed the throne in 1948. He struggled to keep up with developments in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and only joined the post-British UAE in 1972, some months later than the other six emirates.  Having failed to find sufficient hydrocarbon reserves to retain full autonomy, Saqr had little option but to enter into a subservient relationship with his wealthier neighbours.  Although Ra’s al-Khaimah remained relatively poor in comparison to other parts of the UAE, Saqr faced little direct opposition during his rule, managing to incorporate the leaders of most of the emirate’s tribes into various public sector positions, and distributing limited federal subsidies.  His eldest son and crown prince since 1958, Sheikh Khalid bin Saqr Al-Qasimi, served as his deputy, while his younger sons assumed other roles in the ruler’s court and the emirate’s various government offices.

In 2003, after having allegedly burned an American flag at the head of an anti-Iraq war demonstration, Khalid was replaced as crown prince by Saqr’s third eldest son, Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al-Qasimi.  A decree was supposedly signed by the ageing Saqr to support this change and, significantly, Saud had the apparent backing of other members of the ruling family.  Promising a development programme to diversify the emirate’s economy by establishing a real estate sector and a tourism industry, Saud was hoping to capitalize on nearby Dubai’s successes, and even paid for a large supplement detailing his plans to be published in Foreign Affairs magazine. Even more importantly, Saud also had the backing of Abu Dhabi, as tanks belonging to the UAE Armed Forces drove from Abu Dhabi to Ra’s al-Khaimah, and were positioned on various street corners.  Khalid’s supporters demonstrated in the streets, chanting his name and holding flags, but were fired on with water cannons and dispersed.  Khalid was duly exiled, first crossing the border to Oman, and then living in the United States and Britain.

Ra’s al-Khaimah’s ill-conceived development programme began to flounder in 2008, and Saud was vulnerable to criticism in the wake of Dubai’s economic collapse.  Still in exile, Khalid enlisted a US public relations company and a British solicitor to begin a campaign in the international media with the aim of persuading Abu Dhabi and the other UAE emirates that Saud was a liability and that Khalid should return.

The campaign focused on Khalid’s legal entitlement to be crown prince.  It was claimed that the 2003 decree signed by his father was never authenticated, and that a later 2004 decree was signed, overturning the 2003 decision.  The campaign also focused on Saud’s apparent connections to Iran, stating that his effective deputy – a Lebanese businessman – had major commercial interests, including factories in Iran.  By 2009 the campaign was even claiming that  Ra’s al-Khaimah’s port was being visited by Iranian customs officers, and that the emirate was being used as a conduit for nuclear materials destined for Iran.  Connections were also highlighted in the media between Ra’s al-Khaimah andAl-Qaeda, with claims being made that recent terror plots in the UAE – including a 2009 attempt to blow up Dubai’s tallest skyscraper – were the work of a Ra’s al-Khaimah-based cell.

This summer there were signs that Khalid’s campaign was working. The Abu Dhabi ruling family had allowed him to return from his exile to visit his father, who was in a hospital in Abu Dhabi.  Khalid was also allowed to stay in his wife’s palace in Kalba, a town controlled by Sharjah, the UAE’s third wealthiest emirate.  And one of Khalid’s daughters had married into the Sharjah ruling family only the previous year.  Given Abu Dhabi’sincreasingly hawkish stance on Iran, some observers believed that it made sense for Abu Dhabi to crack down on any Ra’s al-Khaimah links to Iran, whether real or fictional.

When Saqr died on October 27th, there were several hours of confusion.  Khalid re-entered Ra’s al-Khaimah and installed himself in his pre-2003 palace with over a hundred supporters and retainers.  He had earlier been promised by the rulers of Abu Dhabi and Dubai that he could attend his father’s funeral and had concluded that he would be peacefully and swiftly installed as ruler, with Saud remaining as crown prince.  By mid-afternoon, however, a brief announcement was made by the Abu Dhabi-controlled Federal Ministry for Presidential Affairs congratulating Saud on becoming the new ruler of Ra’s al-Khaimah.  Tanks were deployed on the outskirts of Ra’s al-Khaimah and most of Khalid’s guards were arrested and remain detained for questioning. Khalid and his son were not permitted to attend the funeral.

With Khalid stating that he intends to meet with the members of the Supreme Council of Rulers (comprising the rulers of each emirate) in order to discuss the future of Ra’s al-Khaimah, it appears that he is unwilling to drop his claim, even though he has now had to leave the emirate.  This unresolved challenge will continue to undermine Saud and may provoke renewed instability in the future.

Saud may also be weakened if the emirate’s economy shows no signs of recovery.  At present its hotel occupancy rates and real estate prices remain low, much like in Dubai.  The nature of the succession also provides Saud with little legitimacy. On a macro-level, it undermines the federal cohesiveness of the UAE, given that the succession process was decided unilaterally by Abu Dhabi, or rather by an increasingly powerful faction within Abu Dhabi which does not yet enjoy widespread support.  Under the federal constitution, successions should remain internal matters for each constituent emirate.  As such, the Ra’s al-Khaimah succession should have been decided by a consultation exercise with the various tribes in the emirate, with no external interference from Abu Dhabi or the Abu Dhabi-dominated federal government.

http://www.currentintelligence.net/gulfstream/2010/11/1/the-politics-of-succession-in-ras-al-khaimah.html

Sheikh Saqr al Qasimi, believed to be in his late 90s, had ruled the northern emirate of Ras Al Khaimah for more than 60 years, dating back to before the UAE’s inception in 1971.

He had been in hospital for several months.
Analysts do not see Sheikh Saqr’s death as posing any risk to the overall political stability of the UAE, even though Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) is considered the least stable emirate of the seven-member federation.
Ras Al Khaimah, the closest emirate to Iran, effectively has been under the leadership of Saud since his older half brother, Sheikh Khalid, was deposed as crown prince in 2003 by decree.
Khalid has campaigned for several years to regain the leadership, but most analysts believe it is unlikely he will win power.

Some believed his quest – and his popularity in the emirate – could complicate any transition.
A source close to Sheikh Khalid said today his palace in Ras Al Khaimah had been surrounded by military vehicles.

An eyewitness said there was also an additional security presence around the residence of Sheikh Saud.
In 2003, the federal government dispatched tanks to guard the palaces of the then newly appointed crown prince Saud, now in his 50s, a day after Khalid was dethroned.
Analysts said this time the succession process would most likely be smooth.
"I don’t foresee any real problems, I think the issue has been settled. The authorities in Abu Dhabi and at a federation level will not allow any sign of friction or instability," Emirati politics professor Abdulkhaleq Abdulla said.
Sheikh Khalid spent several years abroad before recently returning to the UAE, although he had stayed in the neighbouring emirate of Sharjah. He returned to his Ras Al Khaimah palace today, the source close to him said.
UAE blogger Ahmed Mansour, who comes from Ras Al Khaimah, said he did not see any real impact of the change in ruler on a federal level.
"This is just a continuation of what has been going on since 2003," he said.
"Abu Dhabi has been supporting Sheikh Saud from the start and they stood by him during the events of 2003.

Nothing has changed in terms of the reasons behind this support."
Ras Al Khaimah, one of the poorer emirates of the UAE, sits on the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40% of the world’s seaborne oil passes.
The emirate’s economy is based on industries like cement, pharmaceuticals, and glass, and building a regional manufacturing and shipping hub.

Its gross domestic product accounts for 1.5% of the UAE’s economy.
The government announced an official mourning period of a week with flags at half mast and said it would close government ministries and institutions.
The emirate has its own sovereign wealth fund, the Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority (RAKIA), which has a portfolio of around $2.6 billion.

http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/ruler-uae-s-ras-al-khaimah-emirate-dies-3856578

| 10/27/10 01:12 am

Sheik Saqr bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, the ruler of the Ras al Khaimah emirate and one of the world’s longest-reigning monarchs, died Wednesday, state media reported. He was 90.

No immediate details on Al Qasimi’s death were given by the state-run news agency WAM. Al Qasimi was succeeded by his son, Sheik Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, who was chosen as crown prince seven years ago to open a messy family feud with his half brother.

Al Qasimi took control of the northernmost emirate in a bloodless coup in the late 1940s – decades before the United Arab Emirates became a country – as part of a dynasty that has ruled the area since the 18th century.

The emirate, one of seven comprising the UAE, is far less developed than Dubai or Abu Dhabi. But it has sought to boost foreign investment recently by launching an airline, developing basic industries such as ceramic production and courting resort developers.

Ras al Khaimah was selected last year to host the America’s Cup sailing race, but the event was shifted to Spain after objections from the American entry, BMW-Oracle, which questioned the security for the competition because of proximity to Iran’s coastline 60 miles (100 kilometers) away.

Ras al Khaimah has deep trade ties with Iran, but the senior Al Qasimi was also at the center of a territorial dispute with Tehran. He initially refused to join the UAE federation in 1971 until he received guarantees that the new nation would not relinquish its claims to several islands in the Gulf under Iranian control.

After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the emirate was drawn into the international fallout as the birthplace of hijacker Marwan al-Shehhi, who flew United flight 175 into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. According to the 9/11 Commission report, al-Shehhi was the son of a prayer leader at a local mosque and joined the UAE military before moving to Germany, where he later lived with fellow plotters Mohamed Atta and Ramzi Binalshibh.

The line of succession in the emirate has been a simmering dispute since Al Qasimi dumped his eldest son, Sheik Khalid bin Saqr Al Qasimi, as the crown prince in 2003 in favor of Sheik Saud to succeed him as leader of Ras al Khaimah. The emirate’s name means "top of the tent" in Arabic in reference to the shape of the peninsula shared by the UAE and Oman.

In recent months, Sheik Khalid has stepped up his efforts to succeed his father, hiring an American public relations firm to press his case and lobby lawmakers for support in Washington.

His associates have raised concerns about what they suggest are uncomfortably close ties between Iran and Ras al Khaimah that could destabilize the region.

He does not, however, possess any authority to block the succession.

Shortly after the ruler’s death was announced, Sheik Khalid posted a video tribute on his official web page. He praised his father as a "man of great vision and principle" whose passing "marks the end of an extraordinary chapter in the proud history of Ras al Khaimah."

The UAE declared a week of official mourning in which flags will be flown at half staff.

A funeral was planned for Wednesday in Ras al Khaimah.

http://mycentraloregon.com/news/world/321480/Ruler-of-UAEs-Ras-al-Khaimah-emirate-dies.html