Qatar emir skips Saudi-hosted summit with Gulf rivals

RIYADH (AFP) – Qatar's emir skipped a summit in Saudi Arabia on Sunday with fellow Arab Gulf leaders whose boycott of the small but energyflush neighbor has sparked a major regional diplomatic row.

Riyadh is hosting the annual gathering as crises rumble on over the 18month-old dispute with Doha, the war in Yemen and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul.

The regional powerhouse had invited Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to attend the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council talks, but the foreign ministry in Doha said he would not go.

Instead Qatar was represented by the minister of state for foreign affairs, Sultan al-Muraikhi, it said.

Saudi Arabia, along with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, severed diplomatic ties with Doha in 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism and fostering close ties with their regional rival Iran.

Doha – which announced this month it was quitting the Saudi-dominated OPEC oil cartel – denies the allegations, but the dispute has dragged on.

Speaking at the summit, Saudi King Salman accused Iran of ''continuing to interfere in the affairs of the countries in the region''.

He stressed the importance of the GCC and the need to ''defend, in collaboration with our partners, security and stability in the Gulf''.

The summit's final declaration included a call for ''unity'', but did not explicitly mention the Qatar crisis.

A Qatari foreign ministry spokesman blasted the communique on Twitter for ''not evoking the blockade of Qatar and the means of resolving it''.

The GCC was formed in 1981 at the height of the Iraq-Iran war and two years after the Islamic revolution in Tehran sparked concern in Sunni-led Gulf states, many of which have sizable Shiite populations, including in Bahrain.

GCC secretary general Abdullatif al-Zayani has said the summit would review ties with Iran after the US reimposed an oil embargo and other sanctions on Tehran following Washington's withdrawal from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal.