The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit was held in Jeddah on Saturday with Foreign Ministers from six nations meeting to discuss the strategies and mechanisms to implement in order to restore peace in the region.
The summit convened was primarily aimed at charting out the security measures against the much condemned IS forces and to resolve the rift between Qatar on one side and the countries of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait and Oman on the other. The leaders denounced the Islamic State extremists for using religion as a pretext to kill and displace en masse Iraqis and Syrians saying that “fighting terrorism” posed by them was one of the main concerns. They also expressed their worry about the IS advancement citing that if neglected the extremist forces would arrive in Europe, America and the Gulf. Saudi King Abdullah said that terrorism was an evil force that has to be dealt with wisdom and speed. Obama had said last week that Washington did not, at present, have a strategy for fighting IS and called on the regional countries to put aside rivalries and foster inclusive political reconciliation in Iraq and Syria. A support to Yemen until it recovered from crisis was also pledged in the meeting.
The summit also discussed the tensions between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE, in March, withdrew their ambassadors from Doha, accusing it of meddling in their internal affairs and supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. Qatar, according to the three governments, had failed to implement a security accord signed last year. With a rich reserve of petroleum and Al jazeera, which it owns, Qatar is alleged to back the Brotherhood and provide a media platform for its allies. Even though the diplomats were not certain of the outcome of the meeting, steps were reportedly, being taken to sort out the differences with Qatar and send back the envoys as a part of improving the relations between the nations. Instead of the repeated summits to discuss the issues, a dynamic execution of strategies by sidelining the rivalries with each other, monitoring and ensuring of those implementations thereafter is what is needed for countering the present insurgency.