One early European visitor to Al Ain shortly after Sheikh Zayed took over was an oil company representative, Edward Henderson, who, more than forty years later, is now an Adviser in the Centre for Documentation and Research in Abu Dhabi. In his memoirs, he recalls the impression that Sheikh Zayed made upon him. Zayed was then about thirty years old, Henderson recalls. He was hand- some, with humorous and intelligent eyes, of fine presence and bearing, simply dressed, and clearly a man of action and resolution. Although he was young, and had only been formally in charge of the Abu Dhabi sector of the oasis and its surrounding deserts for some two years, he was experienced in the politics of the region, and was already by far the most prominent personality in the area. He had a sure touch with the Bedouin. Sheikh Zayeds task of Rulers Representative not only involved the relatively simple job of administering Al Ain itself, but stretched over a far wider area, giving the young Zayed an opportunity to learn the practice of Government and also, during the Buraimi dispute of the late nineteen forties and early nineteen fifties, gave him experience of the wider world.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 13:16:42 +0000
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