The White House last month described the current crisis in the Gulf between Qatar and a Saudi-led alliance as “a family issue”. But the “family issue” has now become an ugly quarrel, with major regional and global ramifications. And chances of an early solution to the spat are receding day by day as the two sides engage in repeated rounds of accusations and counter-accusations.
Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, in his first speech since Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt broke relations with Doha accusing it of financing extremist groups and supporting terrorism in June, does not give the impression that his country is ready for any major concessions in the dispute. The speech, made on July 21, did stress that Qatar is “open to dialogue to find solutions to lingering problems”, but some provisions showed there won’t be any total surrender by Doha.
The emir said that any solution to the crisis must be based on two principles: “first, it should be within the framework of respect for the sovereignty and will of each state. Secondly, it should not be in a form of orders by one party against another, but rather as mutual undertakings and joint commitments binding to all.”
The four Arab countries severed diplomatic ties with Qatar and cut air, land and sea links with it on June 5. They then issued a 13-point list of demands to end the blockade, including closing Al Jazeera television, breaking links with Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, scaling down ties with Iran and shutting down a Turkish military base in Qatar.
Last week, the four countries, in a surprise move, scaled back the original 13 demands to six general “principles” on fighting terror and extremism, in an attempt to reach a settlement. The list of “principles” included refraining from interfering in the internal affairs of states and from supporting illegal entities and suspending acts of provocation and speeches inciting hatred or violence but did not insist on shutting down Al Jazeera and closing the Turkish base.
These developments come in the wake of reports that a neighbouring country was behind the hacking of Qatar’s official news agency in late May in order to plant a “false” story with controversial quotes attributed to the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad, which had set off the present crisis in the region.
A senior Qatari official, terming the alleged hacking a “criminal act”, said it represented “a clear violation and breach of international law and of the bilateral and collective agreements signed between the member states of the GCC, as well as collective agreements with the Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation and the United Nations”. Though a large number of Indian and other expatriates in the Gulf seem to have been taken by surprise by the turn of events, the truth is that there had been enough hints for keen observers that things were not going in the right direction in the region.
The first time that differences came out in the open was in September 2002 when Saudi Arabia summoned home its ambassador in Doha for “consultations”, apparently over the tone of a debate on Qatar-owned Al Jazeera television channel. Participants in the debate had criticised Riyadh’s policies towards the Palestinian cause. That was the first time Saudi Arabia had publicly announced the summoning home of an envoy posted in a Gulf Cooperation Council state. Apart from Saudi and Qatar, the GCC groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and the UAE.
It took nearly five years for Saudi Arabia to re-establish full diplomatic ties with Qatar after the 2002 hiatus. In March 2008, Riyadh announced that a Saudi ambassador had taken up his post in Doha. And everyone thought that relations had come back to normal. Far from it.
In March 2014, Saudi Arabia, this time along with UAE and Bahrain, once again withdrew its ambassador from Doha because it said Qatar had failed to honour a GCC agreement signed the previous year not to back “anyone threatening the security and stability of the GCC whether as groups or individuals—via direct security work or through political influence, and not to support hostile media”.
Qatar, while expressing “regret and surprise” at the decision by the fellow-members of the GCC, said Doha would not recall its own ambassadors. Like now, Kuwait and Oman publicly stayed away from the measures against Qatar then too. That spat lasted nearly eight months and was resolved only after representatives of the states reached an agreement at a surprise meeting in Saudi Arabia in November 2014. A GCC statement then declared that the agreement would “solidify the unity” of the group.
But the latest developments belie those words. With Qatar set to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the rift could pose a major threat to a number of major construction projects going on in the country as the supply of building materials faces snags. Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad, might have had that in mind when he said in his recent speech that he did not want to underestimate “the scale of suffering and pain caused by the siege”, hoping that “this malevolent approach in dealing among brothers will come to an end and that differences may be resolved through dialogue and negotiation, for this approach has tarnished the image of all GCC countries in the eyes of the world”.
Qatar’s readiness to hold dialogue and “for reaching settlements on all contentious issues in this context” should be seen in this context.
Kuwait, which has been mediating in the dispute, must ramp up its efforts now to reach a settlement and host a summit of the leaders of the five countries in the dispute for face-to-face talks. Also, the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) can no longer remain passive and must get their acts together to find a settlement.
C P Ravindran
Former deputy managing editor of Gulf Times, a Doha newspaper
Email: cpravindran@gmail.com