Call on Qatar to decide wisely as 48-hour extension announced

Manama: Two senior Gulf officials have expressed hope that Qatar would respond wisely as it uses the 48-hour extension granted by Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt to Doha to respond to their demands.

“We pray to God Almighty to help His Highness the Amir of the State of Kuwait succeed [in his mediation endeavours] and we look forward to the State of Qatar's response to the demands of its sister states for the sake of the vital interests of all of us,” Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa, Bahrain’s foreign minister, posted on his Twitter account on Monday morning.

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Bin Mohammad Gargash called on Qatar to seize the opportunity.

“With this morning's awakening, I pray that the extension sought by the honourable Emir [of Kuwait] will be an opportunity for a sound review and a good management by the brother (Qatar). Wisdom is needed and the alternative is difficult for all of us,” he posted on the microblog.

Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt late on Sunday agreed in a joint statement to a request by Kuwait to extend by 48 hours Sunday’s deadline for Doha to comply with the list of demands communicated ten days earlier in a bid to defuse the crisis.

The demands were made after the four countries severed their diplomatic and trade relations with Qatar following its failure to honour its pledges made in 2013 and 2014 to stop interfering in their domestic affairs and to end its support for terror groups.

“In response to the request by the Amir of Kuwait His Highness Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah to extend the deadline given to the government Qatar by 48 hours, and following the Qatari government’s confirmation to His Highness that it will send its official reply to the list of demands by Monday, the four countries announce that they accept His Highness’ request,” the joint statement said.

“The four countries’ reply will be sent after studying and evaluating the Qatari government’s response to the complete list of demands.”