4″ January ” 2021″https://www.middleeasteye.net/news
Kuwait’s foreign minister announces preliminary agreement in a major step towards resolving the Gulf crisis
Saudi Arabia has lifted its land and air blockade on Qatar in a major step towards ending a Gulf rift that started more than three years ago when Riyadh and its allies imposed a siege on Doha.
Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah announced the breakthrough on Monday ahead of a highly anticipated Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit where a broader resolution to the crisis is expected to be reached.
Al-Sabah did not elaborate on whether the preliminary agreement between Qatar and Saudi Arabia extends to the other blockading countries – the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt.
But he conveyed the gratitude of Kuwait’s emir to the leaders of the Gulf and Egypt, saying that they are all working for Tuesday’s GCC summit to reflect unity and for affairs return to normal, ensuring “cooperation and solidarity”.
Qatar confirmed on Monday that Sheikh Tamim, its emir, will lead the country’s delegation to the summit in Al-Ula.Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman welcomed the breakthrough in the impasse on Monday, saying the kingdom’s approach was based on enhancing “the ultimate interests of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states and the Arab countries”.”[The] Crown Prince reasserted that the upcoming GCC summit shall be a summit to close the ranks and unify the stance and to enhance the march of the good and prosperity,” the kingdom’s official news agency SPA said in a statement, The Saudi-led quartet had imposed the blockade in June 2017, accusing Qatar of interfering in the countries’ internal affairs and backing militant groups – charges that Doha denies.
For lifting the blockade the alliance submitted a list of demands, including shuttering the Doha-based Al Jazeera news network, which Qatar categorically rejected.
Immediately after the crisis began, outgoing US President Donald Trump expressed support for Riyadh and Abu Dhabi and their allies, but over the past three years, his administration has been calling for ending the impasse.
Pave way towards resolving dispute
Trump dispatched his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner to the Gulf region last month to work on finding a solution to the rift between Washington’s allies before the US president’s term expires on 20 January.
A senior US administration official told Reuters that Gulf countries and Egypt will sign an agreement to end the blockade at the GCC summit, which will be held in Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
“At the signing on the 5th, leadership from the Gulf Cooperation Council plus Egypt will be coming together to sign an agreement that will end the blockade and put an end to the Qatari lawsuits,” the official, who spoke anonymously to the news agency, said.
Kuwait has been leading mediation efforts to resolve the crisis between its neighbours. Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah had called his Qatari counterpart Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani as well as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday.
Qatar hosts the largest US airbase in the region and has played a role of an intermediary between Washington and its foes in the region.
Turkey, a close ally of Qatar, which deployed troops to a military base in the Gulf nation after the blockade, lauded the lifting of travel restrictions on Monday.
“Turkey welcomes the resolution of the Gulf crisis, appreciates Kuwait and other international mediators efforts to resolve the crisis between Qatar and Saudi Arabia,” the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
