The Omani territory of Wadi-e-Madhah is
located surrounded by the United Arab Emirates, halfway between the Musandem Peninsula and
the rest of Oman.
The enclave is on the Dubai-Hatta road in the Emirate of Sharjah. It
covers approximately 75 km². The boundary was settled in 1969. It
belongs to Wilayat Musandam.
Madha is a wholly Omani enclave within
UAE. As with other more 'correct' maps, the NE corner of Madha is
closest to the Khorfakkan-Fujairah road - and this was verified by
photographs (below) where you can see the border post just approx 10m
from the road.
There is an enclave of UAE wholly within Madha called Nahwa, but it
belongs to Emirate of Sharjah.
Madha
By Bertil Lindén
The
Omani enclave of Madha is quite big but mostly empty, belonging to the
Musandam territory of Oman further north. The
only bigger development, the city of New Madha, is a very calm and
quiet place. There are as well several villages outside New Madha if you continue
the roads further into the enclave. There is no border control entering
Madha, where as if you travel to the Musandam peninsula, you will need
your passport. There are two roads leading to Madha, both from the
United Arab Emirate of Fujeirah. One reaching New Madha from the north,
and the other from the east (see New Madha satellite pic).
Interesting is that your mobile phone switches from
UAE-providers
to Oman Mobile, clearly stating that you are in a different country.
New Madha satellite
image.
Entering
the enclave you are welcomed by a sign to Wilayat Madha, but
there is nothing written about Oman (if it’s not in
Arabic).
Inside, however, several signs point out that you are actually
now in the Sultanate of Oman.
Welcome to Madha!
The New Madha “city centre” is
very quiet but has some shops and an office of the Omani International
Bank.
Most streets, however, are in the quiet residential areas.
Litterature:
Biger, Gideon (Editor-in-chief): The
Encyclopedia of International Boundaries, page 413, Facts On File, Inc.,
11 Penn Plaza, New York NY 10001, USA, ISBN 0-8160-3233-5.
Wilkinson, John C., Traditional
Concepts of Territory in South East Arabia, Geographical Journal, The,
vol. 149, pt. 3, pp. 301-315, 1983 (Nov).
Wilkinson, John C., The Oman question:
the background to the political geography of South-east Arabia,
Geographical Journal, The, vol. 137, pt. 3, pp. 361-71, 1971
(Sep).
UAE: INTERNAL BOUNDARIES & THE
BOUNDARY WITH OMAN [Arabian Geopolitics 4 ] 8 volumes inc. 2 map boxes,
4000 pages; ISBN 1-85207-575-9. Ed. J. F. Walker, CMG, MBE
Comprehensive collection of British documents covering the settlement of
virtually all the onshore boundaries of the seven Emirates and the UAE–Oman
boundary. The documentation from the 1949–1962 period is of particular
importance because no boundaries in the area had been settled before
1949, while the majority of the onshore boundaries, both within the
Trucial States and with Oman, were delimited by 1962. Contained in the
map boxes is a superb collection of maps, including the series of
1957–1960 sketch maps originally drawn by the editor, former
ambassador Mr J F Walker, and made public here for the first time.
(The last three publications in this list
are quoted from Mr. Peter Rowland's Message
648, eGroups' «oman-l ·
Sultanate of Oman», Tue Oct 10, 2000 1:53 pm.)