Germany hails Kuwait initiative

BERLIN, Sept 15, (Agencies): German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Qatari Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani lauded on Friday the Kuwaiti initiative for resolving the Gulf crisis.

The German Government supports His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s efforts for solving the crisis, said Merkel at a joint news conference with the visiting Amir.

Berlin, she added, would continue to encourage the Kuwaiti leadership to pursue the mediation efforts, also underlining necessity to find a peaceful solution to the crisis, involving Qatar on one side and Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt on the other.

Chancellor Merkel viewed positively Qatar’s readiness to sit at the negotiating table to find a settlement to the issue, hoping that a fundamental solution would be reached.

For his part, the Qatari Amir expressed support for the Kuwaiti efforts and gratitude to the chancellor for her backing at this level, too.

The Qatari Amir, who had arrived in Germany from Turkey, would proceed to France.

Meanwhile, France wants to play an active role in supporting Kuwaiti mediation to find a quick solution to the Gulf crisis,

French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday.

In a statement issued by the Elysee Palace after Macron held talks with Qatari Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani in Paris, which highlighted on a number of issues of common concern, including the latest developments in the Gulf crisis and efforts to resolve it.

“France wants to play an active role in supporting Kuwait’s mediation efforts and to put a swift end to this situation,” President Macron quoted as saying.

Also:

CAIRO: An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced ousted president Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood to 25 years in prison in a final ruling over a case accusing him of spying for Qatar, judicial sources said.

Morsi, democratically elected after Egypt’s 2011 revolution, was overthrown in mid-2013 by then-general Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, now the presihealth dent, following mass protests against his rule. He was immediately arrested.