Kuwaiti envoys deliver letter to UAE and Saudi leaders in latest attempt to resolve Qatar crisis
A Kuwaiti delegation of high-ranking royal family members has been sent to leaders across the region to deliver letters written by Kuwait’s ruler – the latest attempt to end the Qatar crisis.
Kuwait’s foreign minister, Sheikh Sabah Al Khaled, and Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, minister of state for cabinet affairs, yesterday met Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to discuss regional developments in the drive to bring an end to the dispute.
The envoys delivered a letter addressed to President Sheikh Khalifa from Kuwait’s emir, Sheikh Sabah, who is the chief mediator in the crisis.
The same officials met with Prince Mohammed bin Salman, crown prince of Saudi Arabia, in Riyadh on Monday to try to facilitate a “direct dialogue” between Qatar and the quartet of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, the Kuwaiti state news agency Kuna reported. They also travelled to Egypt on Monday where they met president Abdul Fattah El Sisi.
The four countries have been boycotting Qatar for more than two months over Doha’s links to extremist groups. They have severed diplomatic ties and cut trade and travel links.
Several high-ranking officials have attempted to resolve the dispute, including Sheikh Sabah, US secretary of state Rex Tillerson and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
But a source at Kuwait’s Diwan Al Amiri said that the latest effort was different in that it is an attempt to establish direct dialogue between the two sides.
The letters intend to provide a clear statement about what demands the boycotting states
are not willing to compromise on and what Qatar must do to end the rift.
The response is expected to be sent to the Qatari leadership to assess their willingness to negotiate on the demands.
Both sides of the conflict have said they are willing to engage in a dialogue.
The four Arab nations set a list of 13 demands that Qatar had to meet before any attempts to resolve the dispute could begin.
The demands said Doha must stop funding terrorism and reduce its ties with Iran. They also ordered the shutdown of Al Jazeera, which provided extremists with a forum, and that all Turkish troops must leave the country.
Qatari officials have rejected the demands. A sticking point in any attempt to start talks between the two sides is Qatar’s refusal to negotiate before the boycott is lifted.
“I think we’re seeing a ramping up in mediation efforts, as both sides have become increasingly entrenched,” said Courtney Freer, a researcher at the London School of Economics.
A new row between Qatar and Saudi Arabia over the Hajj may have spurred greater efforts to mediate the dispute, now in its third month, Ms Freer said.
She said that if anyone had the ability to mediate the crisis it would be Kuwait, especially considering its track record in resolving regional issues.
“Kuwaiti efforts at mediation successfully ended the last Gulf standoff, in 2014, so we can only hope that the Kuwaiti envoys, with support from the US state department, are able to broker an agreement in this case,” Ms Freer said.
The renewed Kuwaiti efforts came as the US envoys in the Qatar crisis, retired general Anthony Zinni, and deputy assistant secretary of state for Arabian Gulf affairs, Timothy Lenderking, arrived in Kuwait on Monday to apply “constant pressure on the ground”.
The two men will also travel to Jeddah, Doha, Manama, Muscat, Abu Dhabi and Cairo.
The US is a key economic and military partner with all the countries involved and Qatar is home to the largest American military base in the region.
Donald Trump backed the quartet in the dispute with Qatar but the state department has tried to tread a more neutral line.
“President Trump’s statements in the past have contradicted statements made by the secretary of state, so, if the president weighs in on the issue saying something different, that could be problematic,” Ms Freer said
The dispute is the worst diplomatic crisis since the formation of the GCC 35 years ago.
US envoys in the Qatar crisis are travelling from Kuwait to Abu Dhabi, Jeddah, Doha, Manama, Muscat and Cairo