Alwaght- Senior officials in the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) have begun preparing for the agenda and draft resolutions of the 36th Supreme Council of the PGCC which will kick off on Wednesday. Hovering around this anticipated summit are tensions which are expected to be accentuated, particularly between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Despite not having a particularly cosy relationship, the two Persian Gulf states are neighbouring allies and share extensive political, cultural, and economic ties based on geographical proximity. However, on several levels, the two countries have verbalized different stances and that’s why the forthcoming meeting is expected to be the arena of a heated debate.
Taking recent political developments into consideration, the following specified reasons can be foreseen to be the centre of tensions at the upcoming PGCC summit:
First, the UAE has shown reluctance to remain part of the Saudi-led coalition attacking Yemen. Reports have suggested the UAE will likely pull out of the war in the near future. An Emirati news website has reported the rising demands of the Emirati people to withdraw from Yemeni territories due to the high death toll among UAE’s military forces. If it does so, however, it would be pleasing its own people on the one hand, and angering Saudi Arabia on the other, which cannot afford to lose a military backer. There is also deep rift over the recent cabinet reshuffle in Yemen. Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah has rejected a cabinet reshuffle ordered by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, as a sign of the deepening split between the two leaders. The political move had seen Brotherhood-affiliated parties taking a large share of seats, thus causing friction between Hadi and Bahah, and respectively their backers, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. Hence, we can see how the rift over the Yemen conflict can play out at the PGCC summit.
Second, Russia’s involvement in the Syrian war has spurred conflicting reactions among Persian-Gulf states. On one hand, Riyadh and Doha have expressed concern over Moscow’s decision to back the Syrian army against terrorist groups. On the other hand, though implicitly, Russia’s interference has received approval from the Sheikhs of Abu-Dhabi. Clearly, any political move the UAE makes without Saudi Arabia’s consent or that contradicts with its agenda acts as a catalyst for dispute between the two sides which will likely unveil on Wednesday.
Third, but equally important point of contention is the probability of the formation of a quadripartite coalition comprising Egypt, UAE, Jordan and Russia against terrorism in Syria. Moscow has expressed its desire to include other states in its alliance to combat ISIS in Syria.
Russian Ambassador Alexander Efimaov has explained, at the Russian embassy in Abu Dhabi, his country’s position, saying that leading a new alliance is a practical step to defeat ISIS where the US-led coalition has failed.
“Russia is obviously not the only country facing this issue. We have [a] common enemy and we should be [working] together, even if we have some different positions on some subjects,” he stated.
Saudi Arabia, of course, will have none of this. In public, Riyadh says the only way ISIS can be defeated is by removing Syrian President Bashar Assad whose forces are leading the fight against the terrorist group. In secret, the kingdom is supporting and funding the group as part of a bid to topple Assad.
These may be only some of the differences that have distanced Riyadh from Abu Dhabi, but they are enough to bring down any form of unity the PGCC once had. In fact, as these factors seem deep enough to cause divisions among member-states of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council, it remains to be seen whether or not they will crystallize publically on Wednesday.
