Yemen conflict to top GCC agenda

Manama: The 30th Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit opens on Monday with the armed conflict in neighbouring Yemen and the growing regional and international concerns about Iran's nuclear programme looming large on the political stage.

However, the economic aspect looks brighter and the expected railway link among the six states and the launch of the monetary union ratified by four of the states are likely to boost popular and official expectations.

For the first time since 1990 the summit is being held while a GCC member, Saudi Arabia, is involved in an armed conflict.

Saudi Arabia, the largest of the six members, has been dragged into the fighting in Yemen between government forces and Al Houthi rebels, who last month crossed into Saudi Arabia and shot dead a Saudi soldier.

The conflict is internationally portrayed as between Sunnis in Saudi Arabia and Yemen on one side and a Shiite minority in Yemen. However, the claims have been rejected by Yemen and Gulf officials.

On Friday, Bahrain's foreign minister Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa rejected the premise and publicly criticised a broadcaster for framing a question along sectarian lines.

Security conference

"Nobody should portray this conflict as a sectarian war. This is unfair. We had the same issue in Iraq when people and the media were talking about Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds," he said at the debate launching the Manama Dialogue, a security conference in the Bahraini capital. "There are other dimensions, but not a religious one."

Ali Mohammad Al Anisi, Yemen's national security agency chairman, said during the debate that the Al Houthis were not Shiites and that it was wrong to portray the conflict as a Sunni-Shiite confrontation.

Shaikh Khalid said that Bahrain and the other GCC countries fully supported Saudi Arabia in defending its lands against any intrusion.

He added that Yemen would be at the top of the GCC summit agenda and that the Gulf countries would support it fully.

On Sunday, Yemen's Foreign Minister Abdullah Al Qurbi delivered a written message from Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to the Kuwaiti Emir "dealing with the enhancement of bilateral relations, means to broaden aspects of joint cooperation at all levels in the service of interests of the people of the two countries and latest developments at the regional and international levels", Kuwait News Agency said.

Iran's nuclear programme and its talks with the major world countries will also figure high on the summit agenda. The GCC wants to avoid a "disastrous military confrontation" between Iran and Israel, but is also wary of a possible deal between Tehran and Washington at their expense and the GCC countries have insisted on being involved in the negotiations and on having their interests represented.

Shaikh Khalid on Saturday said that the ongoing talks between Iran and the world powers, started last week in Geneva ostensibly to resolve the standoff over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme, have failed because they did not include countries from the region.

Other topics expected to be discussed include the UAE islands of Abu Mousa, Greater and Lesser Tunbs occupied by Iran.

The leaders will once more "emphasise the importance of resolving this matter between the two neighbours through dialogue, or otherwise resorting to the International Court of Justice," Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) said.

Power grid: Official launch likely

- For the first time since 1990, the summit is held while a GCC member, Saudi Arabia, is involved in an armed conflict.

- Iran's nuclear programme and its talks with the major world countries will figure high on the summit agenda.

- Economically, the summit is expected to see the official launch of the GCC electricity grid.

- The first phase of the project was completed after Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait were linked, while the second phase will see the linking of the UAE and Oman. The third and final stage will connect these two grids.