<P> In the early 1960s, oil was discovered in Abu Dhabi, an event that led to quick unification calls made by UAE sheikdoms . Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan became ruler of Abu Dhabi in 1966, and the British started losing their oil investments and contracts to U.S. oil companies . </P> <P> The British had earlier started a development office that helped in some small developments in the emirates . The sheikhs of the emirates then decided to form a council to coordinate matters between them and took over the development office . They formed the Trucial States Council, and appointed Adi Bitar, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum's legal advisor, as Secretary General and Legal Advisor to the Council . This council was terminated once the United Arab Emirates was formed . </P> <P> By 1966, the British government had come to the conclusion that it could no longer afford to govern what is now the United Arab Emirates . Much deliberation took place in the British parliament, with a number of MPs arguing that the Royal Navy would not be able to defend the Trucial Sheikhdoms . Denis Healey, who, at the time, was the UK Secretary of State for Defence, reported that the British Armed Forces were severely overextended, and in some respects, dangerously under - equipped to defend the Sheikhdoms . On 24 January 1968, British Prime Minister Harold Wilson announced the decision to end the treaty relationships with the seven Trucial Sheikhdoms which had been, together with Bahrain and Qatar, under British protection . The British decision to withdraw was reaffirmed in March 1971 by Prime Minister Edward Heath . </P> <P> Days after the announcement Sheikh Zayed, fearing vulnerability, tried to persuade the British to honour the protection treaties by offering to pay in full the costs of keeping the British Armed Forces in the Emirates . The British Labour government rebuffed the offer . </P>

When did the united arab emirates gain independence