A call but no response - Bahrain's opposition reaches out

Work has been somewhat all-encompassing these last few days and consequently I have not posted anything on the Arabian Peninsula since last week. I am pleased to be back today with a (albeit brief) commentary on an Al-Jazeera news story, posted on their website today and concerning Bahrain.

Arial view of Manama, Bahrain

This morning Al-Jazeera reported that Bahrain's opposition seeks talks 'consensus'. According to the article, Bahrain's five main opposition parties have joined forces to detail the conditions which the Bahraini government must meet in order for the former to consider sharing a negotiating table with the latter. In a statement the opposition groups have specified that “any offer of dialogue requires consensus on its agenda, means, and duration in order to provide initial guarantee of its seriousness.” The opposition has expressly asked that the government include jailed former leaders of the opposition in the talks.

The fact that the five opposition parties have joined forces to draft these conditions of a meeting between themselves and the government should be seen as a positive step. Such a move shows both Bahraini's and the outside world that the country's opposition is suitably structured and mature to come up with measured concessions to progress with continued political developments. 

I sincerely hope that Bahrain's government has the sense to recognise this move as a positive step in its relations with the opposition. After all, despite the fact that the opposition has come to the negotiating table with some demands, their underlying message is that they want to talk. This is progress, and the Bahraini royal family would be foolish to snap this mini olive branch. 

Unfortunately I suspect that Saudi Arabia will not be so encouraging towards accepting this offer by Bahrain's Shia opposition and we should not ignore the House of Saud's hold over the Bahraini Sunni royals...and that makes Riyadh one of the biggest obstacles to progress in Manama. The optimist in me still hopes that Bahrain's royals will behave with an ounce of autonomy and accept the offer for talks.

My only word of advice to Bahrain's opposition is not to ask for too much too soon. Back in January I posted an article on this blog called "Bahrain's activists are right to ask for more...within reason" and I repeat the same warning now. Arguably the demand for jailed opposition leaders to be present at the talks is too much too soon, especially as for such a demand to be met the judiciary would be required to intervene. The danger with asking for too much is that the whole offer will be ignored, resulting in no response to the opposition's olive branch call. 

Let's hope that a little tempering of demands by the opposition and a little independent thinking from the government will result in the start of a meaningful dialogue between Bahrain's Sunni leaders and Shia opposition.