Plenary session 3

 

Sheikh Sabah listed measures that Kuwait had taken in education, religious training and democratic and social reforms to stop young people being led towards extremism.

 

Over the past year, incidents of terrorism had kept the issue high on the agenda for regional governments. Terrorism, defined by Sheikh Sabah as the ‘illegitimate use of force’, was not a new phenomenon but had developed over the past two decades in terms of its ideology, organisation, structure and use of force. It reached a peak with the 11 September attacks on the US. The new international form of terrorism had no barriers or borders: the remotest parts of the world could not feel safe. ‘In other words, the whole world faces transnational terrorism, from Kenya and Tanzania in Africa, to Bali and Islamabad in Asia, to Washington and New York in North America, Madrid and London in Europe, as well as Kuwait, Riyadh, Baghdad, Sharm Al Sheikh and Amman in the heart of the Middle East.’

 

Sheikh Sabah said terrorist groups were using religion to serve illegitimate and illegal objectives: they sought to justify criminal acts by claiming that cultural and religious beliefs provided legitimacy. To gain sympathy, they called their shameful acts ‘jihad’ and portrayed them as a chapter in a series of conflicts between Islam and the West. ‘Islam definitely disdains and denounces these acts’, he said.

 

Terrorism had acquired an institutional and organisational form. Groups had become large entities with ‘sleeping cells’ composed of members of various nationalities. Sheikh Sabah Khalid continued by saying that ‘we are confronting multi-national terrorism. Terrorism organisations are managed, financed and promoted by a clear chain of command.’ Organisations no longer used particular geographical locations or countries as transit points, but had become nationalised, with sub-organisations and affiliates worldwide. From the al-Qaeda organisation led by Osama bin Laden, sub-organisations and branches had emerged in different regions with leaders such as Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, leader of the al-Qaeda Organisation in Iraq. All were loyal to al-Qaeda. Some had created strategic alliances with other organisations.

 

Sheikh Sabah said terrorist organisations were no longer limited to spreading panic and horror in order to achieve local objectives, such as embarrassing a particular government or regime. Their objectives had become more generalised and ‘they try to impose themselves as key players at the political, economic and social levels’. The effects of terrorism went beyond the sheer number of people killed or directly affected, because of its links to money laundering and smuggling of drugs and weapon smuggling – crimes that endangered international peace and security. Some sources also said that al-Qaeda was seeking weapons of mass destruction.

 

Dealing with new forms of terrorism demanded vision and strategy. Sheikh Sabah commended the International Counter-terrorism Conference held in Saudi Arabia in February 2005 and the agreement there to establish an international centre to combat terrorism. Kuwait’s efforts on the international front had included ratifying 11 United Nations conventions, signing the Arab Convention for Combating Terrorism, and cooperating with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in order to benefit from their experience.

 

At home, the government of Kuwait had formed a committee to set up programmes and procedures to guard young people against deviation or fanaticism. Preventive measures adopted so far included:

 

• Establishing a centre to boost moderate trends in society, by holding seminars and conferences in schools and universities, as well as planning media campaigns to raise awareness.

• Creating programmes to rehabilitate and train Imams and preachers at mosques so that they promote tolerance and moderate thinking.

• Boosting the role of ministries in monitoring charity work and regulating charitable institutions.

• Bolstering democratic practices such as women’s political rights and participation.

• Ensuring the social and economic welfare of citizens by upgrading education and health systems as well as providing job opportunities to the young and encouraging private-sector participation.

• A centre was being established in Kuwait to promote moderate approaches. Further plans included a training centre for preachers and Imams, a centre for international dialogue and a committee to combat terrorism and fanaticism.

 

Sheikh Sabah said a focus on concepts of tolerance and moderate thinking among the young would combat fanaticism and intolerance. The complex phenomenon of terrorism required the cooperation and support of all partners involved in the political, economic, cultural and social spheres. The role of the United Nations in finding solutions for conflicts and disputes in the region should be enhanced. There needed to be more effective mechanisms to narrow the gap between rich and poor, and for cultural interaction between nations.

 

The Interior Minister of Yemen, Major-General Dr Rashad Al Alimi, spoke of his country as the ‘strategic back garden of this area’, and said it needed stronger cooperation with GCC members to halt terrorism, organised crime and arms trafficking, so that Yemen would not be used as a safe haven. He agreed with suggestions for heightened coordination, including the exchange of information.

 

Terrorism was the principal challenge facing the region, Dr Al Alimi said. ’It is well known that terrorism is not a problem of a specific country or region but has become a threat to the peace and security of all countries of the world.’ Cooperation was necessary to defeat it.

 

Yemen had taken a number of initiatives. Firstly, it had adopted strict security measures that had led to the arrest and conviction of terrorists, dissolution of their networks, and thwarting of plans to carry out assassinations and explosions both in Yemen and elsewhere. Between 2002 and 2005, nine terrorist operations had been uncovered, and there were 11 court cases in which 130 individuals faced charges. Secondly, it had taken preventive steps including dialogues with religious scholars and counselors, and supervision of religious education, to avoid the growth of fanaticism and to rectify errant thinking among young people on religious issues. Thirdly, Yemen had introduced legislation and financial regulation in order to oversee sources of financing, bank accounts and remittances. This was intended to combat money laundering and prevent the funding of terrorist operations. The new procedures enforced United Nations resolutions.

 

Additional challenges included the conflict in Iraq and the Arab–Israeli confrontation. Both had afforded terrorist organisations a favourable climate in which to attract young people with false allegations. The organisations were, he said, taking advantage of unemployment, poverty, illiteracy and ignorance of the true values and tolerance of the Islamic religion – all factors that made the terrorists’ arguments more likely to be accepted. They played upon the presence of foreign forces in Iraq and what Dr Al Alimi described as the ‘continuation of aggression by [Israel] toward the Palestinian people’. The establishment of an independent Palestinian state and the restoration of peace and security in an independent, democratic Iraq would boost peace efforts and combat terrorism in the region, he said.

 

attract young people with false allegations. The organisations were, he said, taking advantage of unemployment, poverty, illiteracy and ignorance of the true values and tolerance of the Islamic religion – all factors that made the terrorists’ arguments more likely to be accepted. They played upon the presence of foreign forces in Iraq and what Dr Al Alimi described as the ‘continuation of aggression by [Israel] toward the Palestinian people’. The establishment of an independent Palestinian state and the restoration of peace and security in an independent, democratic Iraq would boost peace efforts and combat terrorism in the region, he said.

 

Dr Al Alimi made particular reference to the poor security situation in Somalia. This threatened the stability of the region, particularly the southern part of the Red Sea, as well as endangering international shipping. In this strategically important region of the world, maritime piracy was on the increase, as was illegal migration of people escaping the conflict. There was a danger of infiltration by terrorist groups. All these factors placed economic and security burdens on Yemen, as well as other regional states and countries further afield. Migrants used Yemen as a staging post to reach Gulf states and Europe. It was important to provide regional and international assistance to create stability in Somalia, supporting the elected government and building state institutions. Given the threat to maritime security from terrorism and piracy, Yemen needed international help in securing its long coastline. 

 

In this insecure environment, organised crime was also a serious problem. Criminal organisations and smuggling networks had doubled their activities by smuggling weapons to be used by terrorists. Young people were an easy target for drug smugglers. Yemen was used as a transit station to other countries.

 

Dr Al Alimi detailed a series of international steps that were needed to counter these security challenges, steps that he said were Yemen’s ‘vision … to achieve security and regional partnership’:

 

• Comprehensive cooperation among security bodies of regional states, with exchanges of information and joint programmes. He would support establishment of a regional centre to coordinate security efforts and exchange information on terrorism.

• Regional and international cooperation to combat terrorism and international smuggling networks through enhanced border controls.

• Cooperation on building the capacities of security bodies in the region, particularly in those countries with limited economic resources, providing them with advanced equipment and training.

• Practical steps to boost economic and social partnerships between GCC countries and Yemen, which he said could not afford to carry out its strategic security role and was allotting budgetary resources to security that should be devoted to development and meeting its citizens’ basic needs. A number of agreements had been signed, and cooperation with Saudi Arabia was a good model: it had led to the arrest of many individuals and the prevention of a number of terrorist operations.

• Action to combat the illegal use of weapons. Yemen had introduced new regulations and had implemented domestic weapons collections initiatives. It had made substantial efforts to stop smuggling of weapons to Somalia and had also established a Coast Guard Directorate.

 

 

By this stage in the Dialogue, themes and patterns were beginning to emerge on the nature of the terrorist threat and the best means of confronting it. Though these were to be further developed in later sessions, a useful synopsis and perspective was delivered at this point by Lord (Charles) Powell, a businessman and former foreign affairs adviser to Margaret Thatcher when she was British Prime Minister.

 

Dealing with terrorism, Lord Powell said, required a balance between action within the region and assistance from outside – both were necessary. Firstly, technical measures to hinder and prevent terrorist actions were needed, and Mrs Townsend had detailed these. Secondly, it was vital to win the ‘battle of ideas’ – the defeat of communism had only been achieved by doing this. Religion was being instrumentalised for illegal purposes, as Sheikh Sabah had said. Professor Jayakumar’s emphasis on the battle of ideas went to the core of the problem, and this was a battle that had to be fought by Muslims. Thirdly, governments needed to show that there were better ways of achieving goals than through terrorism.