AhlulBayt News Agency

source : Khaleej Times
Monday

21 October 2013

8:30:00 PM
474480

Top security summit in Bahrain in December amid people uprising

A major security summit which will draw policy makers and senior government and military officials will take place in Bahrain in December.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The 9th International Institute for Strategic Studies Regional Security Summit — the Manama Dialogue 2013 — will be held from Dec. 6 to Dec. 8 and it will focus on the Syrian issue, energy security in the Middle East and other major issues.The inter-governmental summit allows national security leaders from the Gulf, wider Middle East, North America, Europe and Asia discuss bilaterally and multilaterally on key security and foreign policy challenges.The forum, launched in 2004, has established itself as an important platform to debate major regional and global security, political and economic issues.“Senior governmental delegations will assemble to address key issues, such as Syria, Egypt, sectarianism and extremism, Gulf Cooperation Council integration and military cooperation, and with some 20 ministers already confirmed to participate, the Manama Dialogue continues to strengthen the international security architecture,” said Mark Allworthy, IISS-Middle East managing director.Since mid-February 2011, thousands of pro-democracy protesters have staged numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power. The protests have been met with a heavy-handed crack-down.Physicians for Human Rights says doctors and nurses have been detained, tortured, or disappeared because they have "evidence of atrocities committed by the authorities, security forces, and riot police" in the crackdown on anti-government protesters. At least 115 people have been killed since the protests began two and a half years ago, according to Ahlul Bayt News Agency./129