Kuwait: Efforts to ease Gulf crisis to continue
Qatar’s compliance with Arab quartet’s demands seen key to solution
Kuwait City: Kuwait has sounded upbeat over resolving a years-long row pitting a Saudi-led quartet against Qatar, and pledged continued efforts to end the dispute.
“Kuwait was and is still continuing its efforts to heal the Gulf rifts and solve the crisis among the brothers within the framework of the Gulf Cooperation Council,” Kuwaiti Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid Al Jarallah said in remarks published Sunday.
In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and transportation links with Qatar over Doha’s support for terrorism. Kuwait has since attempted to resolve the row.
“Since the first day, Kuwait has confirmed that it will not rest until the Gulf rift is settled and relations inside the Cooperation Council return to normal,” Al Jarallah told Kuwaiti newspaper Al Rai.
“We are today nearer to optimism than to pessimism in this regard,” he added without elaborating.
The Kuwaiti official’s remarks came a day after Saudi Arabia said the row will be resolved by Kuwaiti mediation efforts and within the Gulf Cooperation Council, which comprises in addition to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Oman.
The official Saudi news agency SPA urged Qatar in a report on Saturday to comply with the Arab quartet’s demands, including cessation of support for militant and terrorist groups, saying this compliance is the key to solving the crisis.