VI. US Competition with Iran: The Gulf States
AHCFIN
March 16, 2012
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more Shi’ites into the national economy Steps have been taken to reduce job discrimination, access to education, and reduce barriers to worship – although much more needs to be done. The security situation has also changed since the 1980s. Nawaf Obaid reports that the government has created a 35,000-man facilities security force, while some 1.5 million Sunnis and over one million foreign workers have moved into the Eastern Province and into key petroleum jobs and facilities. He estimates that the Shi’ite population in the Eastern Province is now as low as 1.1 million (30% of a total population of 3.9 million), and is largely concentrated outside the key petroleum facilities and in cities and villages in the coastal area of Qatif. 38 Nevertheless, the Shi’ite minority in Saudi Arabia still faces continuing problems in living in the middle of a conservative Sunni culture where many Sunnis considers Shi’ite practices to be heretical and which Saudi Shi’ites feel they are denied full political and civil rights. The resulting tensions still create social unrest in spite of the efforts of the Saudi government to ease such tensions and reduce discrimination against Saudi Shi’ites, In February 2009, there were outbreaks of sectarian tensions in both Medina and the Eastern Province, leading to calls for secession from some Shi’ite clerics and Saudi accusations of Iranian incitement. In August 2010, an individual affiliated with Asaiab Ahl Al-Haqq group (affiliated with Iran) was arrested and found with documents and maps of high-level security areas.39 In March 2011, the “Day of Rage” was quickly disbanded by the Saudi leadership, who blamed Iran for the unrest. Since that time, there have been a number of incidents, arrests, and at least several deaths as a result of Shi’ite protests – many centered around Qatif. 40 There have been a significant number of arrests, and some Shi’ites have been killed in such demonstrations. It is difficult to ascertain how many clashes have occurred, but Saudi security forces reported that they arrested over 50 Shi’ite protesters in early 2009 and that they responded to an armed disturbance in the Eastern town of al-Awamiyah in October 2011, that involved rioters with automatic weapons and home-made bombs. In a rare public acknowledgment of the incident by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the government implicated Iranian influence and promised swift recourse if Saudi sovereignty were violated. These statements -- in addition to the Saudi-supported suppression of the uprisings in Bahrain suggest that Riyadh is increasingly concerned about the spread of large-scale Shi’ite unrest. Other reports indicated that armed clashes were taking place between Saudi security forces and Saudi Shi’ites in Qatif in mid January and early February 2012, and were continuing to arrest Shi’ite demonstrators on other occasions.41 Saudi Arabia has dealt with the increase in Shi’ite protests and unrest in four ways: by sponsoring a broad National Dialogue on religion and creating a Human Rights Commission; by creating large industrial cities, jobs, and oil production areas in the Eastern Province to dramatically increase the Sunni population in these areas; by improving education, working conditions, and access to government for Shi’ites; and by significantly strengthening the security forces at every level – including the presence of the Saudi National Guard.