Kuwaiti Minister of Interior Sheikh Mohammed Khalid Al-Sabah has said that the country is considering accepting the terrorist lists issued by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and indicated that the Kuwaiti move may pave the way for similar steps by the rest of the Gulf states.
Al-Sabah warned against complacency in maintaining security in the Gulf, noting that the fight against terrorism does not concern one state alone. He said that despite some issues, the GCC countries have three things in common — security, stability and cohesion.
The United Arab Emirates came out in mid-November with a list of 83 groups as terrorist organizations. The most controversial groups on the list are the Muslim Brotherhood, Lebanon’s Fatah Al-Islam, Al-Qaeda, ISIL, the Somali Youth Mujahideen Movement and the Yemeni Shariah movement.
Saudi Arabia announced its own list of banned terrorist organizations in March this year, which included Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen and Iraq, as well as ISIL, Jabhat Al-Nusra, Hezbollah in Saudi Arabia, the Muslim Brotherhood and several Houthi organizations.
Gulf leaders endorsed the decisions and recommendations of the interior ministers during their 33rd meeting in Kuwait and expressed their satisfaction with the progress made in the field of security. Leaders stressed the solid positions of GCC countries to renounce terrorism and extremism in all their forms and manifestations through the drying out of sources of funding and the eradication of the spread of extremist ideologies.
During the meeting, Gulf leaders expressed their support for Bahrain’s actions in its fight against terrorism, strongly condemning the terrorist bombings that have claimed innocent lives and threatened security and peace in the island nation.
The GCC Supreme Council also welcomed the recommendations and outcomes of the international conference on combating the financing of terrorism, which was held in Manama last November. The policy paper of the conference was considered the main reference in determining the means with which to curb terrorism. Also endorsed was UN Security Council Resolution 2170 issued in August under Chapter VII, which condemns the spread of serious violations of human rights by terrorist groups, particularly ISIL and Jubhat Al-Nusra, by imposing sanctions on individuals associated with these groups.