Manama: Yemen's ambitious plan to have the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) consider its membership in the six-member alliance at the Abu Dhabi summit later this year might have received a new blow amid greater concerns that Al Qaida branch in the country is turning into one of the biggest security threats to GCC countries.
Yemen's request for full membership has been regularly turned down at GCC summits and the latest one is destined to have the same fate, despite US plans to help the country.
In June, the Kuwait Times daily reported that the United States, a strong ally in the region, had conveyed a request from Yemen to the GCC asking the current six member states to consider it for full council membership rather than postpone the consideration of the issue every year.
Economic benefits
The US administration will reportedly welcome the rapprochement as it is pushing through a link between a common fight against Al Qaida with genuine economic benefits for Yemen in which the GCC countries would have a significant role.
According to the Kuwait Times report, quoting an unnamed "well-informed source," Yemen opted for US mediation ahead of the next GCC summit in Abu Dhabi.
The source said the move is aimed at ensuring that Sana'a's application is prioritised on the summit agenda and, thus, enable member states to discuss and consider the matter beforehand.
However, GCC states have informed the United States of their rejection of Yemen's application for full membership.
The six states wanted to keep Yemen's membership limited to the GCC's social, educational, sports and cultural committees, while they continue to support it economically.
In Bahrain, the mood among people is one of caution.
Stability
"There is an urgent need for Yemen to achieve a certain level of stability," Saeed Al Hamad, the lead columnist at Al Ayam daily, said.
"When we compare Yemen with the members of the GCC, we see a vast difference. The Gulf states have had steady political institutions for decades, which have helped create great social peace," Al Hamad said.
"Yemen needs to reach that point and achieve stability in all its political institutions. Then, it can open up on its neighbours and work with them."
For Jaber Mohammad, a political analyst, Yemen is not ready yet to join the GCC.
"The country needs to improve itself domestically before it seeks to cement relations and reinforce cooperation with the GCC. I believe that it will be years before it is really ready to join [the GCC]," he said.
Mohammad added that the name of the alliance would then be changed to the Arabian Peninsula Cooperation Council.
Writing for the Gerson Lehrman Group, James Dorsey ruled out a political marriage between the Gulf states and Yemen, saying that it is likely to prove difficult for the GCC members.
"In many ways, Yemen and the GCC states have little in common beyond geography and their Arab identity," he said.
Differences include political types of government, social traditions and the economic situation.
Whereas Yemen is a poor republic where traditions and tribal laws often take precedence over state laws, the GCC states are rich countries with similar traditions.
"Yemeni officials concede that in order to persuade the GCC, the government will have to improve the security situation, narrow the economic divide with the Gulf states and significantly reduce the country's addiction to qat, a plant stimulant consumed by a majority of Yemenis that is classified by the World Health Organisation as a drug," Dorsey wrote.
Other analysts believe that multilateral programmes to include more Yemeni workers in GCC economies will also prove difficult on the grounds that many of them lack the employment skills now required by the Gulf states.
Skill-building exercise
However, Steve C. Caton, professor of Contemporary Arab studies at Harvard University, argues that Yemenis could undergo professional and technical training in the Gulf, alongside Gulf nationals, followed by job experience in its building industry, which should allow retrained and experienced labourers to re-enter the Yemeni workforce.
However, such a plan requires the implementation of an ambitious economic programme for job growth in Yemen in order to accommodate the returnees.
The programme will undoubtedly require further assistance from the GCC, he said.
In June, Yahya Al Mutawakel, Yemen's industry and trade minister, said that his country has been working since 2005 on a plan that included rehabilitating the Yemeni economy and reducing the economic gap between Yemen and GCC.
