|
Gulf States Meet for Crisis Talks
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Sept 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Gulf monarchies, wary of attacks on Islamic states such as Afghanistan, were set to meet Sunday to coordinate positions after assuring the United States of their support, news agencies reported.
The foreign ministers of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were expected to draw up a "common evaluation of the situation following the attacks on the United States," a Gulf official said, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal was also expected to brief his counterparts on his recent talks with U.S. President George W. Bush, one diplomat said.
Prince Saud reiterated support for a "campaign against terrorism" but called for caution in order to avoid creating a huge gap between Western and Islamic nations.
The United States has launched a diplomatic drive to build a global anti-terrorism coalition in the wake of the September 11th attacks in New York and Washington, which have left an estimated over 6,000 dead.
The Gulf monarchies, home to thousands of U.S. troops and civilians and considered close allies of Washington, were quick to denounce the attacks and said they were prepared to help in the U.S. "anti-terror campaign", AFP said.
According to BBC's online news service, the aim of the summit, called for by Bahrain, is to try and thrash out a common Gulf policy in reaction to the devastating attacks in the U.S.
Washington will be watching the meeting closely, as it needs all the support it can get from its Gulf Arab allies, - both politically and in terms of military facilities - in order to fight its new war against terrorism, the BBC added.
The United Arab Emirates cut diplomatic ties with Afghanistan's Taliban Saturday for refusing to hand over bin Laden, the U.S.'s prime suspect in the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks.
According to the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper, Saudi Arabia is preparing to take similar action, leaving Pakistan as the sole country recognizing the Taliban in Kabul.
Although Gulf monarchies have assured Washington of their cooperation, they have not specified what that support will entail. They would also like to see the United Nations take a lead role.
Their reluctance to grant Washington more military facilities to fight a war on terrorism, most likely targeted at other Muslim countries, was made public Sunday.
Bahrain denied that U.S. warplanes had landed on the archipelago as part of a military buildup, while Kuwait said Washington had not requested any extra facilities.
"No American plane has arrived in Bahrain and the question is still being studied by both countries," Bahrain's junior Foreign Minister Mohammad Abdul Ghaffar said.
The Washington Post reported that Saudi Arabia is resisting a U.S. request to use a major new command center at a Saudi military base in an air war on targets across the region.
"Arab countries must pose their conditions and refuse to commit themselves blindly to a war which is not theirs and not in their interests," said the United Arab Emirates'
Al-Khaleej newspaper.
Without a U.N. mandate, the United States will "not only have removed any legitimacy from the action they want to undertake, but also weakened from the outset any coalition they'll put in place," Qatar's
Al-Watan paper said.
|
