At least three GCC countries to announce intention to join Gulf union: Report

Manama: At least three of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries will likely announce their intention to join the expected Gulf union at the advisory summit on Monday, a Saudi pan-Arab daily reported.

The leaders of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE will meet for one day in the Saudi capital Riyadh to discuss the latest developments in the region and a report by an ad-hoc GCC committee to change the 31-year-old alliance into a union.

In December, Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, host of the latest GCC summit, called for moving the council from the stage of cooperation to the stage of union, within a single unity.

Bahrain has since repeatedly said that it supported the call and that it looked for its formal announcement in Manama by the end of the year when it hosts the next annual summit.

Saudi Arabia has also been extolling the merits of the union as a vital necessity to confront security threats and political and economic challenges in an increasingly changing world.

However, citing a senior Gulf source, the London-based Al Hayat daily said, hours before the advisory summit opens, that Qatar and possibly Kuwait could join Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in announcing their intention to be part of the union core.

The UAE and Oman would join at a later stage, the source that the paper did not identify said, explaining that “the brothers have their particular situations”, and adding that “all countries have agreed on the Gulf union.”

The union core announcement will mark the start of drawing up the details for the implementation of the union in the security, political, military and economic areas, the source said, adding that the regional and international circumstances make the union an urgent popular demand.

The GCC countries have demonstrated a strong unity in their political and security positions on the events in Bahrain and the standoff between the UAE and Iran on the UAE islands, the source said.

“The bitter experiences in some of the GCC countries should be a strong motivation to join the union,” the source said.

The source rejected doubts about the legitimacy or seriousness of the union, claiming that whoever refused it doubted in fact their Gulf and Arab identity.

Voices in some Gulf countries have expressed doubt about the union viability and called for a popular referendum on the issue before moving ahead.

However, the source disagreed.

“Should there be a referendum about the vital values in a citizen’s life, such as patriotism or religion?” the source asked.