Abu Dhabi advocates early lifting of sanctions seen as bolstering Saddam

Although the UN Security Council has once again put off decisions on Iraq by establishing panels to study disarmament, humanitarian issues and missing Kuwaitis, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, the ruler of Abu Dhabi and the President of the United Arab Emirates Federation (UAE), advocates an early lifting of sanctions on Iraq.

"There is no exit from the present policy, it will just go on and on causing more and more suffering among the Iraqi people," a close adviser of Sheikh Zayed told The Irish Times.

The ruler adopted this view because "the policy of containment is not working". There was growing international awareness that the policy must be changed, the source stated.

"It is harming the Iraqi people without weakening the government" of President Saddam Hussein. "There is even evidence that it is strengthening the regime. It cannot go on like this."

The source said the independent-minded ruler knew that there were limitations on what he could do but he was also convinced that he was well within the Arab and international consensus. "Iraq is too central, too powerful and too important (to the Arabs) for it to be treated this way," he said.

"This does not mean we trust Saddam Hussein. No one trusts him and everyone wants to see him out. But there is no point in giving money to the 80 Iraqi opposition groups. They can't get rid of him and the Americans don't have anyone in Iraq who can."

The adviser made the point that the Arabs have still not digested the shock to the Arab psyche delivered by President Saddam's occupation of Kuwait. "Before Saddam Hussein lunged at Kuwait no Arab country had taken over another in our modern history," he said. Arab leaders interfered in the affairs of other Arab governments, mounted coups and disputed borders but they did not "absorb" entire countries.

Sheikh Zayed has adopted "pragmatic" positions on issues other than Iraq, according to the source. This pragmatism came from the life-style of the Trucial tribesmen when they dwelt in the oases.

"It was a tough life. People looked for sensible solutions and did not become fanatic (in religion). They developed open and liberal instincts and blended their tribalism with modernity but they are liberal and open without being secular."

The emirates had evolved a "religious civil society without giving religion a political/constitutional role or an institutional role" as in Iran, which was ruled by clerics of the Shia hierarchy.

Thus, the seven emirates which belonged to the federation were progressive and liberal in a region where conservatism was the norm. Women were among the most educated in the Arab world.

"In fact," he stated, "the women are getting a better education than the men; they are more dedicated, motivated and responsible . . . more women are now graduating than men from our universities. This will cause problems later on."

The environment is another cause adopted by Sheikh Zayed, "who dreams of greening the desert". Modernisation began 20 years ago when the world was becoming environment-conscious, so that development took place in co-ordination with environmental protection which was pursued by both the government and private activists.

Sheikh Zayed's "green belts" along the multi-lane highway between Abu Dhabi and Dubai are evidence of his dedication to the cause of greening the desert.

Squeezed between deeply conservative Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman, the emirs have also taken almost heroically independent positions on alcohol and Christian worship, banned in Saudi Arabia. Alcohol is freely consumed in six of the seven emirates in the federation, Sharjah being the exception, and there are Christian churches in Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, though they do not display the cross externally. Indeed, in Sharjah, the area where the church is located is known as Church Square.

"There has been a considerable relaxation in information policy over the past five years," Mr Nihal Singh, the editor of the Khaleej Times daily of Dubai, noted. "Particularly since the son of Sheikh Zayed, Prince Abdullah, became minister of information." Now, according to the editor, newspapers are restricted mainly in their reporting of sensitive local news.

Saudi Arabia yesterday issued a new warning to Muslim pilgrims against using gas cylinders at this year's annual pilgrimage to holy sites in the kingdom. The Saudi ban on gas cylinders was first issued after a fire in 1997 which killed 343 people and gutted more than 70,000 tents. Saudi authorities blamed the blaze on pilgrims who tried to cook a meal on a gas fire inside a tent.

Saudi Arabia - home to two of Islam's holiest shrines at Mecca and Medina - has been gearing up to receive up to two million Muslims for this year's haj pilgrimage in March.

The kingdom's Civil Defence Department said in a statement that the ban on the use of gas cylinders would take effect on March 22nd and end on April 30th. It said pilgrims' cars and buses would be searched, violators fined and gas cylinders confiscated.

The kingdom has approved new security plans to prevent the recurrence of fires and stampedes seen in previous years.

Up to 119 people were killed in a stampede in 1998.