Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in talks for closer political ties

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are expected to announce closer political union at a meeting of Gulf Arab leaders today, a move dismissed by the opposition as a ruse to avoid political reform.

The decision is part of a strategy to increase integration within the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), as the organisation’s six nations fret about Iran’s power in the region and the presence of al-Qaeda after the Arab uprisings.

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain might initially seek closer union, local media have said, as both share a concern about discontent among Shiite Muslims against their ruling Sunni dynasties, and accuse Shiite Iran of fomenting it – a charge Iran denies.

Saudi security forces entered Bahrain in March 2011 ahead of a crackdown on pro-democracy protests which had been led mainly by majority Shiite Muslims against the Sunni Al Khalifa monarchy, a US ally.

“I expect there will be an announcement of two or three countries. We can’t be sure but I have a strong expectation,” Samira Rajab, Bahrain’s minister of state for information affairs, said yesterday. Two of the countries mentioned were Saudi Arabia and Bahrain; Mr Rajab did not name the third. “Sovereignty will remain with each of the countries and they would remain as UN members but they would unite in decisions regarding foreign relations, security, military and the economy.”

Despite appearances of unity, there are deep divisions within the GCC, which also includes Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, as its officials meet in Riyadh today.

Saudi Arabia fears that Bahrain’s pro-democracy movement has the potential to spill over into its own Shiite-populated Eastern Province region, home to major oilfields.

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a surprise visit to an island claimed by the UAE last month, stoking fears among Gulf rulers of growing Iranian influence.

With its Fifth Fleet in Manama, the United States sees Bahrain’s Al Khalifa family as an ally in stemming Iranian influence in the Gulf.

Last week, Washington said it would resume arms sales to Manama, drawing condemnation from international rights groups.

Iranian media attacked the plan. “Saudi Arabia’s aim in legally occupying Bahrain is to stop the influence of Shiites – the majority of the island – on the Shiite residents in the eastern regions of Saudi,” the semi-official Mehr news agency said.

“The aim of the Saudi regime in the future is the exclusion of Shiites in Bahrain.” Bahrain’s leading opposition party Wefaq said Saudi intervention was aimed at stopping democratic change.

“The issues facing Bahrain are local, not regional.

“There is little the Saudis can do: they sent troops but failed because the crisis is still going on, and that’s because it requires a political solution,” said senior Wefaq official Jasim Husain.

Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, Bahrain’s hardline prime minister, is believed to oppose concessions to the Shiite opposition. He backs the idea of a union.

“The great dream of the peoples of the region is to see the day when borders disappear with a union that creates one Gulf,” the official Bahrain News Agency quoted him as saying yesterday.

Saudi Arabia allows Bahrain access to an oilfield it owns, providing 70 percent of its budget, while Saudis have traditionally flocked to Bahrain for weekend relief from Islamic restrictions.