December 3, 2002	Tuesday	Ramazan 27,1423

DUBAI, Dec 2: The president of the United Arab Emirates has warned that a large expatriate community is threatening to unravel the social fabric of his country.

UAE citizens are a shrinking minority in their own country, where foreigners comprise up to 85 per cent of the 4.6 million population — the highest percentage of any Gulf state, where economies have been transformed by oil and gas riches.

“This imbalance still poses a danger which threatens the stability of our society and the fate of our generations,” President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan said in a national day speech carried by state media on Sunday.

“Every individual in this nation should share a responsibility with the state to correct this imbalance,” he said, but did not specify what measures needed to be taken.—Reuters