ABU DHABI // Officials from around the world gathered on Sunday to find ways to fight the common threat of ISIL in the region.
Delegates from Nato, the European Union, the United States, China and Russia discussed the impact of international strategies and security visions in shaping a regional system in the Arabian Gulf.
Alexander Vershbow, deputy secretary general of Nato, said urgent military action to degrade and defeat ISIL was required.
“We need to stop the flow of foreign fighters to Iraq and Syria and disrupt financial support to ISIL,” he said. “We need sustained efforts across the region to demilitarise ISIL. The US has taken the initiative to rally an international coalition ... it is especially important that regional countries such as the UAE are part of that effort.
“It’s not about the West imposing its will on the Islamic world but a joint effort to meet a common threat.”
Dr Ibtisam Al Kitbi, a political science professor at UAE University, said the region was witnessing a long sectarian war that was not likely to end soon.
“Due to the lack of a regional order recognised by countries in the region, GCC states, including the UAE, have sought to establish an organisation for regional cooperation and security,” she said. “To succeed in our efforts to build [it], we must agree that the dangers of the status quo outweigh the benefits. New rules must be ... agreed upon by all to end clashes between the security visions of regional and international powers.”
Dr Vitaly Naumkin, director of the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow, said ISIL was not only defined by its barbaric acts by fanatics, but as a state-building project.
“I heard from my friends in the region that [Isis] leaders were dreaming about coming to the Gulf because they have illusions that they have some power base in the region,” he said. “To some extent, this [state-building] strategy is more or less working so to fight this, it’s not just airstrikes and military action.”
John O’Rourke, head of Arabian Peninsula, Iraq and Iran at the EU External Action Service in Brussels, said military response was “absolutely needed” along with a blockade of financial aid to Isis, and western countries to address the problem of foreign fighters.
“European and other foreign fighters are committing acts of atrocity and genocide against the populations of Syria and Iraq and we need to accept the responsibility to fight against this phenomenon,” he said. “We also need diplomatic efforts to address drivers of this conflict, including huge sectarian tensions in the region.”
cmalek@thenational.ae
