Mr. Prime Minister! The Time Has Come To Say Good Bye

The big obstacle in the success of a peaceful solution for the Bahrain crisis is no one but Sheikh Khalifa Bin Salman, the old prime minister and unpopular uncle of the king. He has held this post since 1971, after Bahrain's independence, and is the oldest serving prime minister in the world. It is not only the opposition and the people of Bahrain who are unsatisfied with the long domination of this trouble-making man, but also the king and prince of Bahrain and their American supporters are not satisfied with him. All signs indicate that finally, after forty years, the time for his retirement has arrived. Sheikh Khalifa Bin Salman during the years between 1971 and 1999, despite being considered as Bahrain's No.2 man, and due to lack of capability of his brother, Sheikh Isa Bin Salman, the then Bahrain's king, gained full control of the country. Even Sheikh Hamad, who was Bahrain's prince at the time, had no time to prove himself as an effective man. Since the early years of 1970's, in order to maintain his power, Sheikh Khalifa used violence and securitized the atmosphere of the country. He dissolved the elected parliament and annulled the Constitution which was ratified by the parliament. The two institutions were democratic enough that the people of Bahrain have nostalgic view about them during the past forty years.

Emile Nakhle, former director of the strategic program of political Islam in CIA, in this week's article in IPS, has named Sheikh Khalifa as the biggest opponent of reforms in Bahrain.

Furthermore, everybody in Bahrain is aware that regarding methods of governance and interaction with the opposition there are serious differences between Bahrain's king and prince, on one side, and Sheikh Khalifa, on the other.  King Hamad, in 1999, after the death of his father, Sheikh Isa, began his work with the slogan of change and reforms. He prepared a reform document approved by 98% of people's votes, hence, hopes were created in people's hearts. At first, he limited the authorities of the prime minister, and by creating parallel executive institutions, delegated some of his authorities to his prince, Sheikh Salman (for example, Chiefs of Staff of the armed forces and the head of the High Council of Economics) . He further freed political prisoners and dissolved security courts and dismissed  trusted pawns of the prime minister, Ian Henderson, British head of the intelligence organization and his brutal deputy, Adel Al-Falifel and promised the people of Bahrain vast reforms. Opposition leaders were freed from prison or returned from exile. But Sheikh Hamad did not have enough self-confidence to dismiss his old uncle who enjoyed the support of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Emirates. The old-serving prime minister remained in power and tolerated the consequences of his nephew's reforms until finally he was able to neutralize reform projects and return the situation in Bahrain to the pre-reform situation. Besides his incorrect security measures, he has caused the people and the elite of this country to feel unsatisfied due to his involvement in financial corruption files and illegal property ownership.

Today's demands of the people of Bahrain could have been met a decade ago and prior to the arrival of the waves of Arab Spring to Bahrain's shores. Sheikh Hamad could have been named the first Arab reformist ruler and his country an inspiration for the Arab Spring and democratic developments in the Arab World.  Sheikh Hamad's big mistake was to maintain the domestic enemy who ultimately engaged the country in an expanded and paralyzing crisis, which, in turn, led to criticism of organizations defending human rights and democracy which once admired the bravery of the king of Bahrain for his reforms.

Sheikh Khalifa has tumultuous history of alliance with regional and Western powers. During the 1970's, he was able to dissolve the parliament and constitution, with no extra cost, by giving extraordinary authority to the British and by appointing British officers and advisors in governmental official posts. During the 1980's, when tensions between the Persian Gulf Arabs and Iran were intensified, Sheikh Khalifa brought himself closer to Saddam Hussein and allowed the Baath Party to form local organizations and party in Bahrain. As of today, many of his friends, like Somayreh Rajab, the Information Minister, and Anwar Abdulrahman, the editor of Akhabr-al-Khalij newspaper, are remnants of Bahrain Ba'athists. Loyalty of the prime minister to Saddam continued,  even after Kuwait's occupation, and until Saddam was alive. He was among the few Persian Gulf Arabs who was very upset and  cried when Saddam was executed and allowed the Bahraini Ba'athists to write obituaries for him in newspapers of this country.

Now Sheikh Khalifa, with this tumultuous history of numerous alliances, is the desired man of Saudis! Saudi Arabia supports the prime minister against the king and prince of Bahrain who seek understanding and negotiations with the opposition. But, Sheikh Khalifa has gradually lost his status in the West during the past decade and now no one in the West supports his remaining in power.

Since two years ago, suppression of the opposition and uninvited presence of Saudis and Emiratis have not succeeded in ending the protests. The  Crown prince knows that in order to sit on the throne, he must reach an understanding with the opposition. Once, before 17th of March, the day when the Saudi military entered Bahrain, he was close to reaching an agreement with the opposition. But, by dispatching military forces Saudis changed the equation to the benefit of the radical prime minister. As long as Sheikh Khalifa remains in power, the crisis will continue, because he is neither willing to reach an agreement with his opponents nor his history of security measures would allow him to have a chance in continuing his position as the head of the government. This time Saudi Arabia, like in the case of Iraq, has invested on the losing horse. Violence in Bahrain has rapidly spread the crisis into the neighboring regions inside Saudi Arabia and created chaos in eastern region of this country. Considering the changes which have occurred in the security system of Saudi Arabia after the death of Nayef, the radical Interior Minister of this country, one must wait and see whether Saudi's approach with regard to the Shi'ite minority in the eastern province and the situation in Bahrain will change? Recently, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has formed an institution for proximity of religions which is unprecedented in Saudi Arabia. It is also said that Mohammad Bin Nayef, the Deputy Interior Minister, has a mission to negotiate with Bahrain's opposition. It seems that with the opposition's insistence on the dismissal of Sheikh Khalifa, any progress made in the negotiations between the regime and the opposition and the opposition's willingness to talk with the Saudi prince depends on the removal of this 40 years trouble-maker.

Source: Bahrain Observer