Bahrain 1999

Yearbook 1999

Bahrain. Visit Countryaah official website to get information about the capital city of Bahrain. Bahrain’s Emir, Isa Ibn Salman Khalifa, died of a heart attack March 6 in connection with a meeting with US Secretary of Defense William Cohen in B’s capital Manama. The Emir, who turned 65 and had been in power since 1961, was succeeded by his son, the commander-in-chief and the Sheikh Hamad ibn Isa al-Khalifa.

• Also see Abbreviationfinder.org to see the acronym of BHR which stands for Bahrain and other definitions of this 3-letter abbreviation.

The relationship between the new emir and the country’s prime minister, Sheikh Khalifa ibn Ahmad al-Khalifa, was reported to be poor. The prime minister reformed his government in June, thereby strengthening his position.

The country’s leading opposition Shia Muslim, the imprisoned Sheikh Abd al-Amir al-Jamri, was pardoned by the emir on July 8. He had been sentenced to ten years in prison for hostile activity the previous day after being detained for three years. The release came after international pressure.

HISTORY

The islands of Bahrain, together with the facing coast, were among the regions of Arabia where the penetration of Islam met with the greatest resistance. Occupied in the 16th century. from the Portuguese and later from the Persians, they passed in 1784 under the control of Sheikh Aḥmad ibn al-Khalīfa, whose family (of Sunni confession, while the local population is mainly Shiite) has been in power ever since. In 1861 the Bahrain had to accept the British protectorate, against which in the following century both the independence claims of the population and the attempt of Iran to establish its sovereignty over the country developed.

Independence was achieved in 1971, followed by admission to the Arab League and the UN. Emir ‛Īsā ibn Salmān al-Khalīfa placed himself at the head of a government appointed by him. The National Assembly (established in 1973 according to the Constitution passed that year) was dissolved in 1975 following conflicts with the government. In 1981 Bahrain, with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, ‛Omān, Qaṭar and United Arab Emirates, formed the Gulf Cooperation Council, within which in 1991 he participated in the anti-Iraqi coalition. Following the war, an opposition movement to the regime developed, which advanced reformist demands, but the emir limited himself to establishing an advisory council appointed by him (1992). The closing attitude contributed to the radicalization of the tensions between the Sunni dynasty and the Shiite majority of the population, to which the regime opposed a police repression in the following years. The new emir Ḥamad ibn ‛Īsā al-Khalīfa (who took the throne in 1999) since 2001 has given way to important institutional reforms. Confirmation of the path of reform was the 2002 elections, after almost thirty years, the first with suffrage including women. Nevertheless,Ḥamad ibn ‛Īsā al-Khalīfa and the opening of a democratization process; the repression carried out by the Sunni regime was denounced by the major international NGOs and, also on the basis of these complaints, an independent commission of inquiry (Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry – Bici) was set up which shed light on the abuses and torture perpetrated by police force. The legislative elections held in November 2014, boycotted by the main Shiite opposition parties, predictably recorded the victory of the government candidates.

In September 2020 Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed the Abrahamic Agreements for the normalization of diplomatic relations and commercial and economic cooperation between Israel and the two Gulf countries at the White House.

ARCHEOLOGY

The archipelago is indicated in the Mesopotamian texts of the time of Ur III (end of the 3rd millennium BC) with the name of Dilmun. When the island of Bahrain became a fundamental port of call in the navigation of the Persian Gulf, starting from 2500-2400 BC, the first centers of the Dilmun civilization developed, flourishing also for an intense agricultural and handicraft activity, testified by the discovery of a copper processing workshop near Karzakkan. After the end of the Dilmun civilization (1800-1750 BC), the island came under the domination of the Kassite lordsof Babylon; starting from the 1st millennium BC, it regained its mediating role in the trade exchanges of the Neo-Assyrian empire, also becoming an important political center.

UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE

Qal‛at al-Bahrain, ancient port and capital of Dilmun (2005).