Saudi Arabia Rejects UAE’s Declaration on Al Yasat: United Nations Report

show up a document An official report published by the United Nations website revealed that Saudi Arabia had “rejected” the UAE’s declaration that “Al Yasat” is a protected marine area, as this “contradicts international law national. “

According to an official document published by the United Nations website dated March 28, 2024, a letter from the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent to the Secretary-General of the United Nations states that they “do not consider or recognize any legal effect” of. The declaration of the UAE that “Al Yasat” is a protected marine area, according to Emiri Decree No. 4. Published in 2019.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry said, according to the UN memorandum, that the Kingdom “does not recognize … any measures or practices carried out by the UAE government or their influence in the maritime area off the Saudi coast. “

She said Saudi Arabia “is upholding its rights and interests, in accordance with… For approval The borders ended between the two countries on August 21, 1974, which is binding on both parties according to public international law,” according to the memorandum, which the Saudi government considers an “official document” and who asked the United Nations to surround it.

There was no official comment from the UAE.

This comes when the American media reported that there was a “growing disagreement” between the two countries, regarding policies towards Yemen and the decisions of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). .

What is Al Yasat area?

Al Yasat is a marine area belonging to the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, located close to the territorial waters of the Emirates, which was designated as a marine protected area for the first time in 2005.

According to the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, the Al Yasat marine area includes 4 islands with surrounding waters, and is located in the southwest of Abu Dhabi.

The reserve is home to unique marine creatures, including endangered sea turtles, dolphins and dugongs, all of which live, breed and feed in the reserve, according to the same source.

In 2005, the late President of the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, issued an Emiri decree naming “Al Yasat” as a protected area for the first time.

There are about 3,000 endangered dugongs in the UAE, which has the second largest population of the creatures in the world, with 20 percent of them living in the area around “Al Yasat,” according to a report going back to 2009 to the newspaper. The National Local English.

In that report, the Emirati newspaper said, “The Abu Dhabi government is reviewing a law that would more than quadruple the size of the Al Yasat Marine Protected Area, and push its boundaries into the Arabian Gulf.”

He pointed out that the area of ​​the reserve is 428 square kilometers, and includes 4 islands and the surrounding waters.

Order 2019

But the UAE opted out Order Likewise, in 2019, the previous order was canceled and the area was declared a marine reserve with a total area of ​​2,256 square kilometers, as the Official Gazette attached a map showing the boundaries new the reserve.

At the time, a newspaper reported the Union The local newspaper said the new order “specifies the expansion of the reserve to include the Fazaiya peninsula and the waters around it.”

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have long had border disputes despite the alliance between the two countries, which previously led a military coalition in Yemen, as well as their agreement to normalize relations. diplomats sent with Qatar, together with Bahrain and Egypt also the Gulf dispute that ended with the signing of the Al-Ula Agreement in early 2021.

Some of this conflict has its origins in regional disputes and family politics that preceded the UAE’s independence, according to the research paper. Post itlast year, the website of the Arab Center of Washington, DC (ACW), a non-profit, independent, non-partisan research organization concerned with the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia refused to recognize the UAE until the dispute and other unresolved border issues were finally resolved in 1974, according to a research paper. Post it The year 2020 is the website of “Chatham House”, a research center based in the British capital, London.

Why did the controversy continue?

In 1974, after 40 years of negotiations over disputed jurisdiction over the regions of Al Ain/Buraimi, Zararah/Shaybah and Khor Al Udayd, the governments of Saudi Arabia and the UAE signed the Treaty of Jeddah which was supposed to end the dispute .

But the dispute was not resolved at the UAE level, due to contradictions between the verbal agreement before signing the treaty and the final text of the treaty itself, according to Emirati academic Noura Al Mazrouei.

And in a message She received her doctorate from the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.

This seems to be the result, according to Al Marzoui, due to the lack of lawyers, technicians and geographers in the negotiating team of the UAE government, which “has tried to bring Saudi Arabia back to the negotiating table since then .”

Al Mazrouei’s thesis points out that the UAE’s claim to Khor Al Udayd, where territorial waters intersect between the two countries, represents “the most visible aspect of the dispute.”