BETWEEN WAR AND PEACE

In this chapter, Sheikh Mohammed talks about the challenges that the UAE and the region faced in 1979. He also compares the results of development and war..

Nations pass by hard choices sometimes, same like persons. Choices between a battle of development and battle of politics.

In Dubai, the year 1979 was very important and people were expecting it to hold many good things as the year witnessed three major projects — Jebel Ali port, Aluminium Smelter and the Dubai World Trade Centre.

In the same year, Iran witnessed the revolution that changed its regime and Saddam Hussein became the president of Iraq. We also foresaw a possible conflict between the two great powers in our region that could change our future.

On September 4, 1980, Iraq accused Iran of attacking border cities, and on September 22, the war started.

One of the benefits of this war was that it made the Gulf countries think of protecting themselves. On May 25, 1981, the Gulf Cooperation Council was established and I was present there with Sheikh Zayed, who opened the establishing session in Abu Dhabi.

In July 1988, an American warship launched two missiles by mistake on an Iran Air flight, which resulted in the death of 290 civilian passengers. Two weeks after this incident, Iran accepted the UN Security Council resolution number 598 to stop the Iraqi-Iranian war.

The war ended after more than a million persons were killed, and a cost of more than a trillion dollar.

On the other hand, Dubal is the fifth biggest aluminium producer in the world and Jebel Ali has a free zone that includes more than 7,000 companies. The World Trade Centre has become the biggest area in the region to host events and the Sheikh Zayed Road is the road that has the highest numbers of skyscrapers in the Middle East.

After more than 40 years, which is not a long time in the life of people, the results of war and development are both clear.