Secondment of UK armed forces personnel to United Arab Emirates

This file relates to the secondment of UK armed forces personnel to the UAE. It contains correspondence concerning:

• HMG's concern that since Britain's withdrawal from the Gulf, some of the UAE President's advisors have encouraged him to get rid of his loaned officers, and that this could threaten the stability of the area and UK oil supplies
• The question of increasing the frequency of exercises by British troops in the UAE, partly because the presence of British forces is deemed to boost confidence of local governments
• The question of jurisdiction and discipline of British loaned personnel in the Union Defence Force (UDF), including reference to theft and criminal damage
• The question of financing visits by school children of loaned personnel
• A suggestion by Lord Balniel [Robert Alexander Lindsay] that HMG's confidential Exchange of Letters with UAE President Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan should be amended in order to allow loaned personnel to remain in their posts in the event of unprovoked aggression
• The suitability and availability of Lieutenant Colonel Claude Chancellor as second-in-command of the ADDF
• The appointment of Lieutenant Colonel J D Wellings to succeed Lieutenant Colonel I D B Mennell; and Abu Dhabi's rejection of Lieutenant Colonel David Glazebrook for the post of commander of the ADDF Armoured Car Regiment, to replace Lieutenant Colonel J D S Henderson
• Sheikh Zayed's wish to revise the loan agreements for the UDF and the Abu Dhabi Defence Force (ADDF)
• The posting and replacement of officers; and a list of British officers seconded to the ADDF with replacement policies
• A review of the future of British seconded officers in the ADDF
• Peter Macdonald's decision to accept command of the ADDF; and his decision to resign (under pressure from his wife)
• Abu Dhabi's request to reduce the number of British loaned officers from 22 to 11; a suggestion to establish a military liaison team to protect HMG's interests in future; and the importance, to HMG, of having British personnel in the UAE as the new state establishes itself
• Talks with Under Secretary of the Abu Dhabi Ministry of Defence Sheikh Faisal Bin Sultan Al Qasimi on secondment policy
• Proposed amendments to the Memorandum of Understanding concerning loan service personnel
• A 'Review of the Gulf' meeting at the Ministry of Defence, 20 February 1973