Dahi Khalfan accused Canada of trying to cover up the arrest of a suspect in the 2010 assassination in the Gulf emirate of the founder of Hamas' military wing, though he did not say what he thought the motives were.

The two countries have already been at odds over landing rights in Canada for UAE-based carriers, the closure of a UAE military base to Canadian use and a UAE threat to ban key services for Canada-based Research In Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry smartphones.

Additionally, some Organisation of the Islamic Conference countries and allied states voted against Canada's recent unsuccessful bid for a UN Security Council seat.

Local UAE press reports said the Gulf state played a role in this, which was a humiliation for Canada and for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government.

On Tuesday, Khalfan aired his grievances against Canada's handling of the arrest.

Khalfan told Al-Arabiya television that Canada actually informed Emirati officials of the arrest in June, but requested that they not announce it.

"I am astonished. Why this attempt to cover up on this issue? We must act transparently, reliably and quickly in such cases," he said.

The suspect arrested "was among the preparatory group which arrived in the country and left it before the crime" was committed, Khalfan was quoted as saying in Al-Ittihad daily.

Khalfan did not disclose why it was that Canada had requested a news blackout on the arrest.

Ibrahim Khayat, a UAE-based strategic affairs expert, said "there is a feeling on the Emirati side that it deals positively with Western countries in the framework of judiciary agreements signed with them."

"But when it requests something from Western states in this framework of agreements, their relationship with Israel takes priority," Khayat said.

The UAE and Canada also had a recent disagreement over the breakdown of negotiations on expanding landing rights in Canada for UAE carriers, and the subsequent closure of a UAE military base to Canadian use.

Houchang Hassan-Yari, a politics professor at the Canadian Military College in Kingston, Ontario, said both nations had overreacted by allowing a commercial feud over landing rights to become a full-blown diplomatic row.

"It's due to cultural differences," Hassan-Yari told AFP. "In Canada we believe that we can have differences on commercial and still continue on other matters as though nothing had happened."

"For the Emirates, either we're friends, or we're not," he explained. Canada "should have tried to negotiate a deal," he said.

UAE ambassador to Canada Mohammed Abdullah al-Ghafli announced the breakdown of talks in mid-October.

"The UAE is disappointed that despite intensive negotiations over the last five years, the UAE and Canada have been unable to arrive at an agreement on expanding the number of flights between the two countries," he said.

"The fact that this has not come about undoubtedly affects the bilateral relationship," the ambassador said.

The following day, Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay announced that Canada would withdraw from the Camp Mirage military base near Dubai.

"At this point, we will abide by the wishes of the Emirates, and that is that we will be leaving the base," MacKay was quoted by Canadian media as telling reporters in Afghanistan.

The stand-off became even more personal after the UAE forced a plane carrying MacKay back from Afghanistan to take a long detour by denying it permission to use UAE airspace.

In August, the UAE threatened to ban key BlackBerry services, only withdrawing its plan a few days before its October 11 implementation.

The UAE's Telecommunication Regulatory Authority said BlackBerry instant messenger, email and Web browsing would be suspended because they "allow individuals to commit violations", and cannot be monitored.

But TRA backtracked on its decision a few days before the deadline, citing "the positive engagement and collaboration of Research In Motion in reaching this regulatorily compliant outcome."

It was not clear whether RIM made concessions allowing UAE authorities access to its servers.

About 27,000 Canadians live in the United Arab Emirates, one of Canada's biggest economic partners in the Middle East, with bilateral trade valued at about 1.5 billion dollars per year, according to UAE officials.

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