0
DUBAI: It has survived three regional wars and numerous internal disputes. But nearly 24 years after it was founded, the pro-Western Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) remains a toothless body without an identity. Long plagued by disputes, the alliance of six oil-rich Gulf Arab states brought together in 1981 through fear of powerful neighbours Iraq and Iran is coming under fresh strains that threaten efforts to achieve economic union.
Concern over the council’s future arose at an annual summit in December after Bahrain signed a free trade deal with the United States. Gulf powerhouse Saudi Arabia denounced the move as a violation of a common tariffs agreement — the cornerstone of GCC integration.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, felt further isolated after Washington launched separate trade talks with two other members — the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Analysts are divided over the extent of the threat posed by the spat, which was deep enough to keep Saudi de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah from attending the December meeting.
But they agree that the GCC — once seen as following in the footsteps of the European Common Market before it became the European Union — would remain vulnerable until leaders decide to bring about a measure of democracy into the council and cede some of their sovereignty to the GCC.
“There are those who play down the spat as another quarrel and those less optimistic who say that the last summit in Bahrain could have finished off the GCC,” said former Kuwaiti information minister Saad bin Tiflah al-Ajami.
“The truth is that people in the area have their hands over their hearts”, for fear it could collapse, he said.
But Bahraini researcher Abdulnabi al-Ekry said he saw no immediate threat to the body that has given the six states, which own nearly half the world’s oil reserves, a collective voice in regional and world affairs.
“The GCC will not disintegrate. It has the means to survive but its ability to develop is limited,” Ekry said. “There is a consensus (among GCC member states) that they want a weak body.”
WEALTHY NATIONS: Nearly a quarter century after it was set up to bring about “coordination, integration and inter-connection ... in all fields in order to achieve unity”, the GCC remains a club of wealthy monarchies divided by mutual mistrust and bickering.
Officials often boast that the council continues to function years after other regional Arab bodies either ceased to exist or were rendered ineffective, including the Arab League.
Many point to deals facilitating free movement of people and goods between member states, and plans to link power grids and coordinate military activities as examples of GCC successes.
But sceptics paint a different picture. Analysts say the absence of a clear identity was the biggest impediment facing the alliance.
“The biggest problem for the council is the nature of this council,” UAE analyst Abdul-Khaleq Abdullah said. “The GCC’s identity is not clear. It wasn’t clear 25 years ago and it is not clear now.”
Critics say the six states remain far apart on crucial issues such as the nature of a joint defence force, political reforms and coordinating industrial projects. Progress on other issues was extremely slow and resolutions adopted at meetings are normally so watered down they cannot be implemented.
“Very few countries have high expectations from the council,” Abdullah said.
IMPEDIMENTS: A major setback, analysts say, was the body’s failure to stop Iraq from invading Kuwait in 1990 and the rush to seek US help to drive Iraqi forces out the following year.
Even minor issues such as extending a pipeline or bridge across a third country’s territory continue to dog the alliance. “Today, we are shipping gas to Korea and as far away as the United States, but we still can’t send gas to Kuwait,” Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jabr bin Khalifa al-Thani said recently, referring to Saudi Arabia’s refusal to allow Qatar to extend a gas pipeline to Kuwait through its territory.
“That’s Gulf cooperation for you,” he added. There has been discord between Saudi Arabia and Qatar over Doha-based satellite channel Al Jazeera, whose outspoken programmes led to an open row in 2002. Another issue of contention has been Qatar’s low-level ties with Israel.
Even the tariffs accord, hammered out in tough negotiations amid fears that rapid economic globalisation was leaving the GCC states behind, was now at stake. Under the accord, goods can move without duties within member states and a 5 per cent duty was set for foreign goods.
Riyadh threatened to impose customs duties on foreign goods imported duty-free through Gulf states over the Bahraini-US trade pact that gives US goods a foothold inside the bloc.
“The council cannot develop unless popular participation is insured,” Ekry said.—Reuters
