(Reuters) – Gulf Arab leaders were meeting to discuss a closer political, economic and military union on Monday, part of a strategy by wealthy Sunni Muslim monarchies to counter Shi’ite Muslim discontent in Bahrain and Iran’s growing influence.
Gulf sources said the meeting was primarily aimed at setting the stage for closer union between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, who are concerned about resentment among their Shi’ite subjects towards the ruling Sunni dynasties.
“We look forward today to the establishment of the Gulf Union,” said Bahrain’s King Hamad in a statement released by Bahrain’s state news agency when he arrived in Riyadh.
King Hamad, along with leaders from most of the other Gulf states, was greeted at Riyadh’s airport by Saudi King Abdullah.
Bahrain’s monarch headed a large delegation that included royal court minister Khaled bin Ahmed, a leading hardliner within the ruling Al Khalifa family seen as opposing granting concessions to Shi’ites.
Gulf Arabs accuse Iran, the Shi’ite power which is seeking to extend its sway in the region, of fomenting recent unrest – a charge Iran and Bahraini protesters deny.
But Tehran, which criticized the intervention of Saudi troops to try to end a Bahraini democracy uprising last year, has reacted to the union proposals with alarm.
“Saudi Arabia and the ruler of Bahrain know that without doubt these foolish measures will make the Bahraini people more united against the occupiers,” a statement by 190 members of Iran’s parliament said on Monday.
“(It) will transfer Bahrain’s crisis to Saudi Arabia, lead to further unrest in the region and add to existing problems.”
Gulf leaders are also worried that an international standoff over Iran’s nuclear program might spark an armed conflict that could suck them unprepared into a confrontation with a more powerful neighbor across the waterway.
UNITY
The tiny island state, which like most other Gulf states is ruled by a pro-U.S. Sunni dynasty, has been wracked by a revolt among majority Shi’ites for more than a year.
The U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, which patrols Gulf waters and key oil shipping lanes, is also based in Bahrain.
Gulf Arab states are already tied together militarily, politically and economically under a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). But the union currently under discussion is meant to empower one country to come to the aid of another if it feels threatened, as happened in Bahrain.
Analysts say that by joining up with Bahrain, Saudi Arabia would gain more say over its tiny neighbor’s security, limiting the chances of Shi’ite empowerment if there was any deal with the government and a reorienting of policy towards Iran.
Riyadh fears Bahrain’s pro-democracy protests – which aim for an elected government and better access to jobs and housing – have the potential to spill over into its own Shi’ite-populated Eastern Province region, home to major oilfields.
When leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which also includes Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, met in December, Saudi King Abdullah called on the six to move “to the stage of unity in a single entity”.
The meeting set up a committee to study the proposal and report to the leaders at the next summit.
According to a document used in the discussions, the union calls for economic, political and military coordination and a new decision-making body based in Riyadh, replacing the current GCC Secretariat.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s top exporter, is by far the largest and most powerful of the Gulf Arab states.
While Gulf analysts say smaller GCC members are averse to further integration, fearing a loss of sovereignty and influence in a region traditionally criss-crossed by feuds, politicians from Bahrain have speculated about a confederation with Saudi Arabia.
The ruling Al Saud family enjoys close personal ties with Bahrain’s Al Khalifa clan and Saudi citizens regularly travel across the 25 km causeway to Bahrain on weekends.
A Saudi spokesman was not available for comment.
SCEPTICISM
Monday’s discussions between the six ruling dynasties – which are taking place in a lavish Riyadh palace – will be closely watched on the streets of Bahrain where the opposition has denounced the idea of greater union.
“When the European countries decided to move to a union, they went through discussions and everybody voted for or against,” leader of the opposition Wefaq party Ali Salman told a rally on Sunday night. “This is how governments that respect their people deal with such matters.”
Protesters burned tires in Manama on Monday morning, sending plumes of smoke over the airport.
Some 81 people have died in violence during 15 months of unrest, according to activists.
Saudi Arabia and Iran have been fighting a cold war across the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq brought Iran-allied Shi’ites to power.
They have also backed opposing sectarian factions in Syria and Lebanon, and Riyadh has urged the United States to strike at Iran’s nuclear program, which it fears is aimed at developing an atomic bomb – something Tehran denies.
Another perceived threat spurring Gulf Arab integration is al Qaeda, whose militants have flourished in the disorder thrown up by the uprising in Yemen, on Saudi Arabia’s southwest flank.
However, not all Saudis think integration is a good idea.
“If we join with Bahrain we risk importing their problems,” said Abdullah al-Shammari, a Saudi political analyst.
Some of the other GCC members may also oppose further convergence of the 31-year-old council, fearing their independence will be curtailed by Riyadh.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Hammond and Marcus George in Dubai; Editing by Reed Stevenson, Sami Aboudi, Jon Boyle and Andrew Osborn)