MUSCAT, 20 April 2004 — A grandmother serving her third term on the State Council, Oman’s upper house of Parliament, has become the first woman to represent her country on the GCC Advisory Authority.
The appointment of Samira bint Mohammed Amin ibn Abdullah has came at the directive of Sultan Qaboos.
“I feel honored and inspired to work even harder to honor my obligations,” the distinguished educator told Arab News today.
She said the GCC Advisory Authority, which comprises five members from each of the six member states, remained a very important organ of the Gulf Cooperation Council. It was created in Abu Dhabi in 1980.
Samira said Bahrain was the only other member state to have a female member on the GCC Advisory Authority. “I cherish the rare distinction’, said the UK-educated adviser to the minister of education.
She said the Omani constitution guaranteed women equal rights. “Women have a great role to play in the building of a society and we are aware of our duties and responsibilities,” she said.
Samira, a mother of four, became grandmother last year.
“Rawaya bint Saud Al-Busaidy, Oman’s full-fledge woman minister, has been an inspiration,” she said. The State Council has eight woman among its 57 members.
“There is no dearth of female talent,” she added. “No wonder girls are outshining boys in examinations.”
Israel Criticized
Oman’s lower house of Parliament, the Majlis Al-Shoura, has denounced Israel for “the criminal aggression which took the life of Hamas leader Abdelaziz Al-Rantissi.”
“The sultanate of Oman stands alongside the international community in rejecting and condemning the assassination policy followed by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people whose sufferings under occupation have lasted too long,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Majlis President Sheikh Abdullah Bin Ali Al-Qatabi expressed “the deepest feelings of anger and revulsion” at the brutal killing and urged the international community to move swiftly to protect the Palestinian people from endless Israeli “demolitions, destruction and assassinations.”
Oman was the first GCC state to have trade links with Israel but severed them five years ago as a rebuff to Tel Aviv’s continued atrocities.
