GCC Interior Ministers discuss regional security challenges
Drugs destabilizing factor in region: Sheikh Mohammad
DOHA: The Middle East region is seeing vast and rapid security challenges that are being manifested in increasing terrorist activities, Qatari Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Thani said, as the 34th consultative meeting of the GCC Ministers of Interior convened in Doha yesterday.
The Qatari Minister pointed out in his speech that due to the growing epidemic of terrorism, there should be a collective and major responsibility to protect the stability and safety of the Gulf region. Terrorism, he emphasized, has nothing to do with all values and lessons of Islam; it only aims at deconstructing and destabilizing communities.
Nonetheless, the GCC countries have taken security measures and precautions to stand against this horrific phenomenon, reiterating the GCC countries’ support to any regional and international effort to put an end to terrorism.
Global cooperation
He also called on international community to enhance global cooperation by coordinating with all security bodies worldwide in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution 2199 of 2015 which affirms “terrorism in all forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security and that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable regardless of their motivations, whenever and by whomsoever committed.
He stressed “the need to combat by all means, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and international law, including applicable international human rights, refugee, and humanitarian law, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts, stressing in this regard the important role the United Nations plays in leading and coordinating this effort.”
Deconstructive thoughts
Meanwhile, GCC Secretary General Dr Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani said in his remark to the assembly that independent media outlets play a role in spreading deconstructive thoughts which lure young people to dismantle national unity.
Zayani lauded security bodies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain for exerting tremendous efforts to foil terrorist cells’ activities in smuggling and storing heavy weaponries. He stressed the region’s safety is the responsibility of its leaders who should follow up with security issues in their countries and who should have a constructive dialogue with their people to encourage them to take part in safeguarding their countries as well.
Drugs
During his address to the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah said that drugs are another destabilizing factor to security in the region, along with terrorism and smuggling weapons and ammunitions. He said that the meeting provides an opportunity to study security challenges in the Gulf region, as civil wars, sectorial and ethnic conflicts ignite around it.
He pointed out that terrorism is happening everywhere, making reference to the latest terrorist attacks in Lebanon and France. He added that terrorism does not differentiate between Muslims and non-Muslims; it targets all and seeks bloodshed worldwide.
He stressed that the newly established Gulf Police Apparatus should help secure the GCC countries through exchange of security information.
Sensitive time
Sheikh Mohammad had affirmed upon arrival to Doha that the meeting was held “at very sensitive time considering rapid regional developments.” In remarks to KUNA, the minister affirmed that these spates of events “are posing threats to our peoples and higher interests of our states as well as our civil, economic and cultural accomplishments.”
“The objective we are robustly seeking to attain is security of the region and peoples and this warrants relentless effort now and in the future to face this aggression of darkness that seeks to bring us back to the times of negligence and backwardness, which we will not allow to happen at all,” he said.