Kuwait-US arbitration
Reconciliation after 3 years and 7 months of Dankyo
5-day agreement signing ceremony
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Saudi Arabia and Qatar reopen airspace and borders. It has been three years and seven months after Arab countries declared a breakup, claiming that Qatar is supporting Islamic terrorist organizations and has a friendly relationship with Iran.
On the 4th (local time), Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Nasser Muhammad Al-Sabah said on Kuwait TV that day, “We have reached an agreement that Saudi Arabia and Qatar will open borders by air, land and sea for this evening.” Qatar monarch Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Alsani attends the annual Gulf Cooperation Conference (GCC) held in Al Ula, a city in the northwest of Saudi Arabia, to sign the agreement.
There is growing hope that this agreement will serve as an opportunity to end the disputes between Gulf countries. In June 2017, U.S. allies Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain declared their ties to Qatar as supporting Islamic terrorist organizations and friendly with Iran. Afterwards, four Arab countries suggested 13 things, including △providing information on suspected terrorism, △closing Qatar state-run Al Jazeera broadcasting, △ banning exchanges other than limited commercial transactions with Iran, as conditions for withdrawal of school, but Qatar protested that it was an unfair demand, and the conflict grew.
It has also been reported that Kuwait and the United States have moved actively to resolve this situation. Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said at the annual meeting held in Italy on the 4th of last month, “Mediterranean Dialogue”, “We have made significant progress in the past few days.” The Kuwaiti government efforts and US President Donald Trump He also said it was thanks to strong support. In particular, it is said that President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, senior advisor to the White House, also intervened in the negotiations and tried to reach an agreement by communicating with Saudi Arabia until the morning of the day.
The reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Qatar is interpreted as an extension of the Iranian pressure that the Trump administration has pursued. This is because Qatar has maintained close relations with Iran, the leader of Islamic Shiite, who shares offshore gas fields. From Iran’s point of view, it is inconvenient for the Islamic Sunni powers Saudi Arabia and Qatar to join hands again.
/ Reporter Kwak Yoon-ah [email protected]
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