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Kuwait
Collective Security under the Gulf Cooperation Council
The six Persian Gulf states of the Arabian Peninsula-- Bahrain,
Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE--formed the GCC
in May 1981 with the aim of "co-ordination, integration, and co-operation
among the member-states in all fields." Although none of the committees
initially established dealt with security, the final communiqué
of the first meeting affirmed the will and the intention of the
signatories to defend their security and independence and to keep
the region free of international conflicts. Four months later,
the chiefs of staff of the armed forces of the six member states
met to discuss regional military cooperation. The immediate objective
was to protect themselves from the dangers posed by the Iran-Iraq
War and the political violence associated with revolutionary Islamism.
In a series of meetings over the years, the defense ministers
and chiefs of staff devoted numerous sessions to the improvement
of military cooperation and the creation of a joint command and
joint air defense mechanisms. Managing their common security challenges
collectively has made progress in some areas, but little in others.
Creation of a fully integrated air defense system was far from
a reality as of early 1993. The GCC states have not realized plans
to develop an arms production capacity, although they have launched
a new effort to revive an earlier arrangement with Egypt to create
a pan-Arab weapons industry.
Political differences among GCC members have been the main obstacles
to placing gulf defense on a collective rather than on a bilateral
basis, even in such matters as achieving interoperability of equipment
and cooperating in training, logistics, and infrastructure. The
GCC experienced delays in reaching agreement to cooperate in internal
security matters because Kuwait, the chief target of terrorism,
feared that its relatively liberal domestic security regime might
be impaired. Until Kuwait agreed to a GCC agreement in late 1987,
Saudi Arabia and several other members of the GCC coordinated
their efforts bilaterally, including the exchange of equipment,
expertise, and training; the extradition of criminals; and the
interception of border infiltrators. GCC members have adopted
parallel policies on deportation and travel restrictions and share
information on suspected terrorists and plots.
Ground and air units of the six member states have carried out
small-scale combined training exercises. Military assistance,
provided mainly by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait under GCC auspices,
has enabled Bahrain to modernize its stock of combat aircraft
and Oman to improve its air and sea defenses around the Strait
of Hormuz. In 1984 GCC defense ministers agreed to create the
Peninsula Shield force and base it at Hafar al Batin in Saudi
Arabia, about sixty kilometers south of the Kuwaiti border. Under
the command of a Saudi general, the unit consists of one Saudi
brigade and a composite brigade with token personnel from the
other states.
The limited reaction of the GCC to the August 2 Iraqi invasion
of Kuwait exposed its weakness when faced with direct aggression
against a member of the alliance by a much stronger power. The
GCC immediately condemned the Iraqi action, but when GCC defense
ministers met three weeks later, they could only agree on strengthening
the Peninsula Shield force. During the Persian Gulf War, national
contingents deployed separately as units of Arab task forces.
At the conclusion of the war on March 3, 1991, the six members
of the GCC, along with Syria and Egypt, met in Damascus to agree
on the establishment of a permanent security force to protect
Kuwait against future aggression. Syria and Egypt were to contribute
troop contingents on a reimbursable basis. The Damascus Agreement
soon unraveled when differences emerged over the desirability
of a long-term Egyptian and Syrian presence in the gulf. However,
Egypt and Syria remain committed under the agreement to send military
aid to Kuwait and the other gulf states if a threat arises.
Kuwait subsequently negotiated defense cooperation agreements
with the United States, Britain, and France as an additional form
of security if its borders were again threatened (see Kuwait:
Background , this ch.). At a GCC meeting in late 1991, Oman proposed
that the six GCC members develop a 100,000-strong joint security
force under a unified military command. The Omani plan was set
aside after other defense ministers questioned whether the manpower
target was attainable and whether administrative and procedural
problems could be overcome. The consensus of the ministers was
that the Peninsula Shield force should be the nucleus of a unified
army, the realization of which might be many years in the future.
Data as of January 1993
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