Yearbook 2006
United Arab Emirates. According to
CountryAAH, the United Arab Emirates Vice
President and Prime Minister, Sheikh Maktum ibn Rashid
Maktum, as well as Emir of Dubai since 1990, died on January
4 during a visit to Australia. He turned 62 years old. He
was succeeded by his younger brother, Defense Minister
Muhammad Rashid al-Maktum, who pushed for Dubai's
construction boom, as well as investment in tourism and free
trade zones. Dubai is one of the seven emirates of the
United Arab Emirates. Before the sheikh died, he had in
December 2005 announced that the United Arab Emirates would
hold its first, indirect election to the Federal National
Council (FNC) previously designated by the seven emirate
leaders. Half of the Council's 40 members would be elected
by an electoral assembly in December 2006, the others as
previously appointed by the emirate's leaders weighted
according to population figures. Women would also be allowed
to run for office.
In March, hundreds of guest workers, who are in the
process of constructing what will become the world's tallest
building, Burj Khalifa, attacked the police. They were
dissatisfied with pay and working conditions and caused
extensive damage. The human rights organization Human Rights
Watch later criticized the United Arab Emirates government
for the treatment of guest workers, not least in the
construction industry. About half a million of the United
Arab Emirates's more than 2.7 million guest workers come
from South Asia.
In March, the company Dubai Ports World (DPW), based in
the United Arab Emirates, bought the British competitor P&O
and strengthened its position as one of the world's largest
port operators. The acquisition sparked heated debate in the
United States when six US major ports ended up in DPW's
ownership. Critics feared that a foreign owner could
contribute to an increased risk of terrorist attacks and
claimed that two of the hijackers in the September 11
attacks in 2001 came from the United Arab Emirates.
President George W. Bush did not have to fight when DPW
announced that the US business segment would be resold.
In October, United Arab President Khalifa ibn Zaid
al-Nahyan announced stricter laws against human smuggling
with penalties for life imprisonment in some cases.
Saudi Arabia was reported to be critical of plans to
build a 36-mile-long gas pipeline on the bottom of the Gulf
of Persia from Qatar to the United Arab Emirates. Deliveries
were planned for the summer of 2007. A large part of the
United Arab Emirates' abundant gas supplies are
sulfur-containing.
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