Expressing the modified Riyad Line

(from TNA, FO 371/174496, F. Brenchley to W. Luce, 23 June 1964)

We have now made an attempt at expressing the modified Riyadh line in terms which might be acceptable to the Saudis … and have included the result in the enclosed draft renunciations of claims made by Faisal and Shakhbut.

You will see that we have used two methods of expressing the line: first in terms of place names, to show that it has an “Arab” basis in local history and geography; and secondly, in terms of the ARAMCO relinquishment agreement of March, 1963, which as you know followed the coordinates of the Riyadh line. The second definition supplies the greater precision required for oil operations, and suggests at the same time that the line and its coordinates were fixed by the Saudis and not us. Normally if one defines the same line by two different means, one should say which prevails if there is found to be a discrepancy though we hope there is none… We have therefore provided wording providing the coordinates should prevail.

The western end of the Riyadh line was expressed partly in terms of place names in Sir Andrew Ryan's and Sir Reader Bullard's Notes of November 25, 1935 and December 4, 1937 respectively (Buraimi Memorial Annex D No. 17). It, or something like it, appears in Arab terms in Shakhbut's claim at the 1952 Dammam Conference. Our new drafts seem preferable to any drafts based on these for the following reasons:

• (a) They are not reminiscent of the Riyadh line and its long history of unsuccessful negotiation.

• (b) Being unfamiliar in language and in general terms, they conceal the fact that the only substantial claim to be renounced by Shakhbut is that to the South (i.e. the Sabkhat Matti/Al Qaraini/Umm Al Zamul triangle) and suggest that he may also have compromised in the West.

• (c) They cut down the number of place names to the minimum, and use none that are not both on the line and defined by coordinates. To use such expressions as “leaving to Abu Dhabi, Nakhala, Aqlat al Manasir, Farhud, Rimth, Khafus and the route from Doha to Abu Dhabi” or “including within Abu Dhabi Aqlat al Rimth and Batn al Tarfa” would be to invite indefinite digression and dispute in the shifting sands of Bedouin topography.