WASHINGTON, DOHA SIGN DEAL TO COMBAT TERRORISM
US pursuing efforts to resolve diplomatic crisis
DOHA step towards ending the crisis.
Sheikh Mohammed urged “the siege countries to join us in the future” by signing on to such deals.
While the State Department has warned the crisis could last months, Tillerson struck a moderately optimistic note.
“I’m hopeful we can make some progress to bring this to a point of resolution,” he said after meeting Qatar’s emir.
“Qatar has been clear in its positions and very reasonable and we want to talk now... (about) how do we take things forward.”
Tillerson flew back to Kuwait — the main mediator in the crisis and where he is based this week — after the talks in Qatar.
Egypt announced the meeting with Tillerson in Jeddah yesterday, saying it “reflects the four countries’ desire to enhance coordination and underscore their unity on ways to deal with Qatar in the future”.
The diplomatic crisis is the worst to hit the region since the establishment of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in 1981.
The four countries on June 5 announced sanctions, effective immediately, against Qatar over accusations Doha supported Islamist extremism and was too close to Iran.
They severed all diplomatic ties, suspended transport links with Doha and ordered all Qataris to return home within 14 days.
On June 22, the Saudi-led bloc issued a list of 13 demands which, if met, would end the sanctions, including closing broadcast giant Al-Jazeera, downgrading ties with Iran and shutting a Turkish military base in Doha.
Qatar refused to comply and has consistently denied accusations of ties to Islamist groups.
Tillerson’s arrival in Doha was overshadowed by the publication of pre - existing confidential agreements between Qatar and other GCC states in which all sides had pledged to combat extremist funding and avoid interference in other states.
Tillerson’s visit is the latest in a series by officials to the region, including UN diplomats and the foreign ministers of Germany and Britain.
The US and its Western allies have vast economic and political interests in the Gulf, which pumps one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies, houses one-third of proven global crude reserves and sits on one-fifth of the world’s natural gas deposits.
Qatar is also home to the US military’s largest air base in the region, Al-Udeid. Rival Bahrain houses the US Navy Fifth Fleet. AFP