Saudi terror war gets GCC support

Foreign ministers of the GCC member-states have expressed support for the security measures taken by Saudi Arabia in its fight against terrorism.

The ministers, who met in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah yesterday, also discussed the occupation by Iran of UAE's three islands of Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Mussa. "The meeting reiterated its belief that the three islands and surrounding areas are integral parts of the territory of United Arab Emirates", a council source said yesterday.

The ministers expressed the hope that latest contacts between the Iran and the UAE would lead to peaceful settlement of the problem.

"The terrorist acts in brotherly Saudi Arabia continue to represent a real danger to the whole world and we must all exert every effort and cooperate with the international community to combat this dangerous disease which has no nation or religion," Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al Salem Al Sabah said.

He was addressing a regular meeting of foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), held under tight security in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah.

"We must deploy all efforts and cooperate with the international community to fight this epidemic," he said.

The GCC groups Opec members Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE and non-OPEC oil producers Bahrain and Oman. The six together own nearly half the world's oil reserves.

The ministers voiced support for Baghdad's new interim government and hope it would build an independent and united Iraq.

"On this historic occasion, we welcome and congratulate new Iraqi President Ghazi Al Yawar and members of the interim Iraqi government," the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister said.

"We wish them success in carrying out their responsibilities to build a new Iraq and restore Iraq's effective role in the region and internationally," he told the meeting.

The agenda in Jeddah was to be "full of important topics ... especially concerning fighting terrorism," GCC secretary general Abdulrahman Attiya said in a statement Friday.

The weekend meeting was also to review relations between the GCC and international economic blocs, Attiya said. On May 4, GCC interior ministers signed a counter-terrorism pact calling for concerted efforts to confront terror, which Attiya described as the most important accord since the the organisation was formed in 1981.

At a one-day consultative summit in Jeddah on May 16, the leaders of the Gulf countries also vowed to close ranks to defeat terrorism.

Last week's shooting and hostage-taking in the Saudi oil city of Al Khobar, which targeted oil firms and Western compounds, sparked fears over the security situation in the world's biggest oil exporter and helped push world oil prices to record highs before producers pledged to hike output.