Middle East 705
Coding changes: End Date changed from December 12, 1969. Settlement changed
from Unclear.
MID#3054
Dispute Number: 3054
Date(s): December 28, 1983 to January 16, 1984
Participants: 670 Saudi Arabia/680 Yemen People’s Republic
Outcome (and Settlement): Unclear (None)
Fatalities: Missing
Narrative: Saudi Arabia and the People’s Republic of Yemen engaged in several
border clashes. The clashes were covered by local newspapers but ignored by both
governments.
670 SAUDI ARABIA/694 QATAR
MID#3569
Dispute Number: 3569
Date(s): September 30, 1992 to December 20, 1992
Participants: 670 Saudi Arabia/694 Qatar
Outcome (and Settlement): Compromise (Negotiated)
Fatalities: 1–25 deaths
Narrative: This dispute is over contested territory between Saudi Arabia and Qatar—
specifically a 40-mile-long swath of land where Bedouins roam and part of which
has oil deposits. Although Saudi Arabia and Qatar signed an agreement to delimit the
border in 1965, the Land and Maritime Border Delimitation Agreement was never
ratified. In 1992 Qatar believed that Saudi Arabia was building in Qatari territory.
Then, on September 30, 1992, Qataris and Saudi Arabians clashed at Al-Khofuous, a
Qatari border post about 80 miles south of Doha. Two Qataris were killed and a third
was taken prisoner, though the Saudis returned the captured Qatari after reported
Kuwaiti mediation.
The dispute ended in December 1992 when Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd and the Emir
of Qatar Sheik Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani, with mediation from Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak, agreed to form committees to demarcate the border in what was
called the Al Madinah Declaration.
In November 1994 Qatar alleged armed incidents on the Saudi border in March
and October, and in June 1995 Qatar had a bloodless coup and stationed troops in the
disputed territory so Saudi Arabia did not take advantage of the domestic turmoil (see
MID#4293). In March 1996 Oman mediated a reported settlement to the dispute, and
in April the countries again agreed to establish a committee to demarcate the border.
In 1999 officials from both states initialed maps delimiting the borders at Dawhat
Salwa, an oil-rich piece of land between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and in 2001 officials
signed the maps. In 2008 Qatari and Saudi Arabian officials signed another agreement
and set of maps to delimit the remaining land and maritime border disputes.