Gulf leaders unite against terror

Abu Dhabi: President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan commended Saudi Arabia's efforts to combat terrorism as he opened the 31st Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit at the Emirates Palace amid unprecedented security on Monday.

Leaders of the six GCC states pledged to stand by Saudi Arabia and the international community in the fight against terrorism.

Speaking at the opening session of the GCC Summit, Kuwait Emir Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, said: "We are closely following Saudi Arabia's efforts to combat terrorism. While condemning terrorist acts we express support to the kingdom and the international community in their fight against terrorism in all its forms."

Crackdown

Saudi Arabia has arrested 149 people from 19 Al Qaida cells over the last eight months and foiled attacks against government and security officials.

Shaikh Khalifa thanked outgoing GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al Attiyah for his contribution to furthering the cause of the GCC during his term and welcomed Abdul Latif Bin Rashid Al Zayani as GCC Secretary-General.

Al Zayani will assume his new role at the beginning of next year.

There was only a brief mention of Iran during the opening session with Shaikh Sabah calling on Iran to adhere to international calls to resolve the dispute with the UAE over the islands of Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Mousa.

There was no discussion of a GCC stance on the Iranian nuclear issue.

GCC foreign ministers had been very vocal about the Iran issue during the recent Manama Dialogue, saying that the ball is in Iran's court to reassure GCC states of its intentions about its nuclear programme.

Meanwhile, on Iranian state television, Ali Akbar Salehi, the chief of Iran's atomic agency, said that the talks on Iran's nuclear programme presently under way in Geneva were for the benefit of the other countries, not Iran.

Diplomats from six major powers are meeting Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, in the first such talks for more than a year.