Dubai: Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers have agreed to end all issues related to an internal disagreement within one week. The Qatari media on their front pages on Thursday highlighted the one-week decision as the full implementation of the Riyadh agreement and the end to the unprecedented crisis.
However, London-based Saudi daily Al Sharq Al Awsat saw it as “a deadline for Qatar to implement the Riyadh accord and the end of its differences within the Gulf.” Reports in the last few weeks warned that Qatar could face tough sanctions if the differences with the GCC countries escalated, including the freezing of its membership in the GCC, the only Arab alliance that has weathered all challenges for decades.
Qatar’s suspension from the GCC would mean that Qatari citizens would need visas and sponsors to enter the GCC countries.
Other sanctions could be tough restrictions on investments by Qatari nationals and companies within the GCC. The GCC countries could also close their airspace to Qatari aircraft, which would severely affect the operations of the new Doha airport. Several observers, expressing doubts about a solution to the crisis, said that they were sure that at least some of the sanctions would be imposed before the end of this month.
“I do not think Qatar will change its policies,” Mohammad Jaber, a Gulf analyst, said. “The agreement was signed in April and yet we do not see things changing on the ground, which denotes that Doha is persuaded it is doing the right thing and sees no need to change its policies. I believe that Qatar wanted to test the resolve of the GCC countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, to hold on to their position and to benefit from the time factor. However, it seems that the GCC countries are this time serious about their firmness,” he said.
In a diplomatically veiled statement, Abdul Latif Al Zayani, the GCC Secretary General, said at the end of the meeting in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on Wednesday night that the ministers “appreciated the efforts being deployed by the committee with the implementation of the Riyadh agreement over the disagreements with Qatar.” The ministers issued directives to facilitate the work of the committee and end all issues stipulated in the Riyadh agreement within one week, reports from Jeddah said. The agreement was signed in the Saudi capital on April 17, more than one month after Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE in an unprecedented move pulled out their ambassadors from Qatar.
Interference in domestic affairs
The three countries complained about the interference of fellow GCC member Qatar in their domestic affairs and in adopting a policy that was not in harmony with the GCC objectives.
Reports said that Manama, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were upset with Doha’s support for politically motivated Islamist movements, the naturalisation of Gulf citizens, mainly from the opposition, and lack of genuine cooperation on sensitive issues, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood and the Houthis in Yemen, Saudi Arabia’s southern neighbour.
The GCC, established in 1981, brings together Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Qatar rejected the charges and said that it was fully committed to the six-member alliance.
Following an intense mediation effort by Kuwait’s Emir, the Riyadh agreement was signed and an ad hoc committee was set up to follow up on its implementation. Its reports were routinely taken up by the GCC foreign ministers.
Progress on the works of the committee has never been made public and in the four months since the agreement, contradictory statements by officials and the media about the crisis within the GCC have been issued.
At the official level, Oman’s foreign minister spoke about a quick end to the divergences, while Saudi Arabia has insisted that the ambassadors would not be reinstated until Qatar fully complied with the agreement. In July and August, Bahrain said that Qatar was selecting Bahraini families of Arab descent to lure them into switching nationalities and move to the peninsular country.
On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal said that the divergences between the three countries and Qatar were not a source of satisfaction.
“What happened between us and Qatar is not something that we are happy with,” he said in Jeddah. “We want to have within the GCC, relations of solidarity, mutual support and agreements, especially over the main aspects of the foreign policy and stances towards international issues. We look forward to achieving this status and we do hope that all matters are moving forward in this direction,” he said.
The one-week grace period announced by the GCC foreign ministers could be interpreted as the light in sight after four months of intense negotiations.
