Qatar’s foreign minister said on Friday that there had
been some progress to resolve the Gulf crisis which has pitted a
regional group of nations against his country.
Saudi led its allies — the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and
Egypt — to cut ties with Qatar in 2017, accusing it of backing
radical Islamist movements and Iran, charges Doha denies.
They subsequently forced out Qataris residing in their
countries, closed their airspace to Qatari aircraft, and sealed
their borders and ports, separating some mixed-nationality
families.
“We have achieved certain progress at a certain point of time
more than a year ago, and then things have slowed,” Foreign
Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said at the
Mediterranean Dialogues forum in Rome.
“Right now, there are some movements that we hope will put an
end (to) this crisis,” he said without giving details.
“We believe that Gulf unity is very important for the security
of the region. This needless crisis needs to end based on mutual
respect.”
US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared
Kushner is reported to have raised the Gulf crisis and pushed for
progress towards ending the spat during a visit to Qatar
Wednesday.
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Few details have been made public about Kushner’s trip, which
could have been his last chance to press diplomatic issues in the
region that has been a focal point for the outgoing Trump
administration.
Saudi Arabia’s closure of its airspace has forced Qatar Airways
aircraft to fly over Iran, Riyadh’s arch-rival and long-time
adversary of Washington, paying significant overflight fees to
Tehran in the process.
The New York Times has reported that Qatar pays $100 million
annually to fly over the Islamic republic, citing diplomatic
sources.
US national security adviser Robert O’Brien said in November
that allowing Qatari planes to fly over Saudi Arabia via an “air
bridge” was a priority for the outgoing Trump administration.
Qatar has repeatedly said it is open to talks without
preconditions, though has not signalled publicly it would
compromise on the 13 demands of the boycotting countries.
Past mediation efforts led by Kuwait have yielded no
results.
-AFP
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