Policy decisions taken by the UAE can sometimes surprise even our closest allies. This was the point made over the weekend by a US television reporter as he interviewed Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the UAE’s foreign minister. Referring to a list published by the UAE 10 days ago, which named 83 organisations as terror groups, Bret Baier, a journalist with the right-wing channel Fox News, suggested two of them had “raised some eyebrows in Washington”. Both of the groups Mr Baier mentioned are US-based.
Sheikh Abdullah responded with candour. “Our threshold is quite low when you talk about extremism. We cannot accept incitement or funding when we look at some of these organisations,” he said, making a distinction between terror groups that “carry a weapon and terrorise people” and others. The UAE, he said, “cannot tolerate even the smallest and tiniest amount of terrorism”.
Sheikh Abdullah’s words are key to understanding the specific nature of extremism and counterterrorism in the UAE. For all its wealth, status and high profile, the UAE is a small country in a volatile region. Moreover it is one that hosts a large number of expatriates, many of them from countries with very different cultures, religions and societies. It has to balance all of this with the particularities of its own political climate, which places a premium on stability and peaceful, managed change.
This is why formulating policy is a tricky balancing act. Tip too far one way and many of the gains might be compromised. Go too far down the other road and the direction of travel may have changed beyond recognition for Emiratis and all who call this country home, even if only for a limited period.
Any suggestion of an organised attempt to change the trajectory of the country is looked upon badly, as the case against members of Al Islah last year showed.
The ban on 83 groups makes sense in this context though such decisions are not always easy to understand. But they are important for the UAE’s stability and society – and that must be the first consideration and the first test of the UAE’s policy.
