Gulf foreign ministers meet to discuss rift

Foreign ministers from Gulf states gathered in Riyadh on Thursday for an extraordinary meeting aimed at putting an end to a disagreement between Qatar and three other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), an unnamed Gulf official told AFP. 

The meeting aims to settle a weeks-long conflict over Qatar’s alleged failure to uphold a security agreement between GCC members, although there is “no clear idea” how the foreign ministers will reach a solution, the official told AFP.

An unprecedented rift emerged in the GCC last month when Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) withdrew their ambassadors from Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.

Saudi Arabia recently designated the Brotherhood a terrorist group, a decision openly supported by Bahrain and the UAE but  the remaining GCC members, Oman and Kuwait, did not take action. 

Rumours spread in several newspapers that an agreement has been reached on Thursday were fuelled by a Kuwaiti official. 

“The GCC rift is solved...it was a summer cloud and now it has gone away," said Marzouq al-Ghanim, speaker of Kuwait’s National Assembly in a press conference on Thursday afternoon without giving any further details.

There is yet to be an official announcement about what took place in the Riyadh meeting, although a report published in Bahraini daily Al Ayam said that Qatar will meet the demands of Saudi Arabia by reigning in their support of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Qatar will also deport 15 Gulf nationals linked with the Muslim Brotherhood and tone down coverage of events in GCC states by Doha-based broadcaster Al-Jazeera, according to Al Ayam.

Analysts, however, question whether Qatar will cede to the demands of Saudi Arabia in the manner reported by Al Ayam.

“The al-Thani’s [Qatar’s ruling family], as the wiliest rulers in the region, will say just enough to avoid a land blockade and allow Saudi Arabia and the UAE to avoid embarrassment," Christopher Davidson, reader in Middle East Politics at Durham University, told Middle East Eye. “With little doubt, Qatar’s policies will continue unchecked and the ‘jewel in the crown’, Al-Jazeera, will not be bent," he added.

In a private meeting between GCC Foreign Ministers in Riyadh last month, Saudi Arabia reportedly threatened to block Qatar by land and sea if it did not end support for the Muslim Brotherhood.

Qatar may make enough of a concession to end the current disagreement, but this is unlikely to solve the more fundamental issue of divergent regional policies, according to experts.

“It is quite likely Qatar will make small concessions, such as reigning in the more open activities of Brotherhood activists in Doha, which will soothe the present bout of tension," Kristian Ulrichsen, research fellow at the Baker Institute of Rice University, told MEE. “But the episode has once again underlined the differences in approach among the six GCC states on major internal and external issues facing the bloc,” he added.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE strongly oppose the Muslim Brotherhood and view the group’s grassroots activism as a potential threat to their authority. Qatar, however, provided significant financial backing for the Brotherhood’s short-lived government in Egypt and has given sanctuary to exiled members of the group since last June’s military coup.

An official announcement from the GCC foreign ministers is expected to be made once the meeting in Riyadh has ended on Thursday.