Saturday, April 20, 2013

Kuwait debate regional security agreement with eye on Shi'ite minority

http://www.geostrategy-direct.com/geostrategy-direct/secure/2013/04_24/3.asp

 

Kuwait debate regional security agreement with eye on Shi'ite minority

ABU DHABI — Kuwait has been examining a security pact by the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Parliament has decided to debate the GCC security agreement over the next few weeks. The agreement, approved during the GCC summit in Saudi Arabia in May 2012, has encountered opposition in Kuwait, deemed the most liberal of the six Gulf Arab states.

"Our constitution has clearly drawn the major principles of freedom," parliamentarian Mubarak Al Najada said. "We will look at the articles through this prism. If the pact is in line with the constitution, then we will support it. If not, we will reject it."

In November 2012, GCC interior ministers approved the security cooperation agreement, said to contain six chapters and 20 articles. The accord called for coordination among GCC security agencies as well as extradition of criminal and insurgency suspects.

A concern by many Kuwaiti parliamentarians is that the GCC pact would be used by Saudi Arabia for the arrest and extradition of Shi'ite dissidents. The royal family in Kuwait, with a Shi'ite minority reported at up to 45 percent, has sought to avoid Shi'ite unrest, believed fueled by neighboring Iran.

Parliamentarians said they have been under pressure by the government to ratify the GCC pact by May. They said the sheikdom required regional security cooperation amid the threat of Iran and Al Qaida.

"We have not seen the pact yet, but I do stand with common Gulf action as long as it does not violate the Kuwaiti constitution," parliamentarian Mohammad Al Jabri said.

 

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