Manama: Qatar is freeing all Bahrain-based fishermen it has been holding for allegedly straying into its waters.
The breakthrough has come following a telephone conversation on Monday between Bahrain's Crown prince Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa and Qatar's Crown Prince Shaikh Tameem Bin Hamad Al Thani.
The official news agencies of both countries said that the conversation covered bilateral relations.
In another phone call, also on Monday evening, Qatar's Internal Affairs Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Al Thani told his Bahraini counterpart, Shaikh Rashid Bin Abdullah Al Khalifa that Qatar's Emir Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani had ordered the release of all Bahraini and Asian fishermen held in Doha and that legal procedures were being implemented to allow them to go home.
News about the release of the fishermen was hailed by Shaikh Rashid as the finalization of the "deep-rooted and cordial relations" between the two countries.
More joint efforts will be exerted to ensure a better monitoring of the maritime birders and that there is no repeat of the crisis, the minister said.
Earlier in the afternoon, dozens of people, mainly university students, staged a rally in front of the Qatar embassy in Manama to press for the release of Bahrain-based fishermen.
A mini crisis erupted between the two neighbours after Qatari coastguards shot a Bahraini fisherman for allegedly straying into Qatari waters. Doha said that Adel Al Taweel, 37, was shot for not heeding warnings to leave the area.
A request by Bahrain to allow the wounded fisherman to go home was turned down by Qatar. The decision was harshly condemned by the Bahraini media while Bahrain officially called for the release of Al Taweel and 106 other fishermen detained by Qatar.
Two trials last week confused Bahrainis about the fate of the fishermen amid verdicts of innocence by the court but Qatari insistence to keep them and their ships in Qatar.
However, Doha which throughout the five-week crisis did not issue any official statement on the issue, gradually released some fishermen, raising hope that the matter would be closed within days.
Qatar and Bahrain were locked in a decade-long border dispute that was eventually resolved by the International Court of Justice in March 2001. Both capitals accepted the verdict and pledged to renew their cooperation with a 40-kilometre causeway project as the most visible bond of friendship. However, plans to go ahead with the constructions have often stalled. Earlier this month, reports said that the plan was put on hold; however, Bahraini officials denied the allegations as untrue.
Relations soured in December 2009 after Qatar rejected the nomination of Bahraini former information minister Mohammad Al Mutawa as the next secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council. Even though the other members of the GCC endorsed the Bahraini nominee, Qatar has reportedly objected on the grounds of past statements by Al Mutawa when he was information minister at the time of the bitter standoff between the two countries over their borders.
The issue was ultimately resolved by Saudi King Abdullah and Bahrain named Abdul Lateef Al Zayani as its new candidate for the rotating position. Al Zayani, the head of public security, was last week transferred to the foreign ministry as a prelude to his move to Riyadh, the GCC headquarters.
Do you think this will put an end to the rift between Qatar and Bahrain? Or do other underlying issues need to be addressed before relations can be normalised?
