Toronto - As the one month anniversary of the blockade against Qatar arrives, the Saudi-led group of countries who kicked off the crisis are mulling over Qatar’s newly-received response to their list of thirteen demands.
Toronto – As the one month anniversary of the blockade against Qatar arrives, the Saudi-led group of countries who kicked off the crisis are mulling over Qatar’s newly-received response to their list of thirteen demands.
According to the state-run Kuwait News Agency, the much-anticipated Qatari response was presented on Monday to mediator in the crisis, Kuwait.
No details of the response are being released but Qatar has made its opinion of the demands very clear to the international community, calling them “unrealistic” and “not actionable.”
Having said that, however, Qatar has also made it clear that it was willing to negotiate a solution. Qatar’s foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani handed the response to Kuwait, saying that “the state of Qatar has adopted a very constructive attitude since the beginning of the crisis. We are trying to act mature and discuss the matter.”
According to Al Jazeera the presentation of the response to the Kuwaiti foreign ministry was followed by “an extensive meeting between the Qatari foreign minister and his Kuwaiti counterpart for more than one and half hours.”
Addressing the Qatar response on Twitter Wednesday, the Saudi foreign ministry said, “Minister Adel al-Jubeir received from the Kuwaiti state minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al Sabah the official Qatari response regarding the demands of the boycotting countries.”
Kuwait’s take on the current negotiation climate is “a sense of relief, tinged with caution.” According to the Al Jazeera report, “the meetings reflect Kuwait’s intense activity at the highest levels, from the emir down.”
Rumours currently swirling have Kuwait’s foreign minister attending a meeting of the four blockade countries on Wednesday to discuss the Qatari response and how to move forward. “It is clear that a breakthrough is being achieved; that some of the demands could be addressed,” Al Jazeera is reporting.
The list of blockade demands, issued to Qatar on June 22, include the immediate closure of state-funded network, Al Jazeera, the dismantling of a Turkish military base within Qatar’s borders, a cooling in relations with Iran and the cessation of ties to any terrorist organizations.
Saudi foreign minister, Al-Jubeir also tweeted Wednesday that Qatar “will receive a reply in due time,” once the blockade countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt, have had time to consider the response.
The crisis kicked off June when Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain announced their intention to sever all diplomatic ties with Qatar citing its alleged involvement in the funding of terrorist organizations and an close relationship with Iran. From the outset, Qatar vigorously defended itself against the accusations, claiming instead that the blockade, which followed the cutting of diplomatic ties, had more to do with punishing Qatar for its independent foreign policy than any concern about regional security.
