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Gulf ambassadors withdrawn from Qatar
March 5, 2014, 10:44 am

GCC diplomats say they tried to persuade Doha to comply with a non-interference security accord [Xinhua]

GCC diplomats say they tried to persuade Doha to comply with a non-interference security accord [Xinhua]


A diplomatic row appears to have blown into a crisis among member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in the Persian Gulf as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) withdraw their ambassadors from Qatar.

A joint statement released on Wednesday said that the ambassadors were withdrawn because Qatar did not comply with a late 2013 GCC agreement on regional security.

The security agreement was signed by Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudia Arabia and the UAE on December 10, 2013 at the 34th Summit in Kuwait City.

Saudi Arabian media indicated that delegates from the three countries held eleventh-hour discussions on Tuesday in a bid to convince Qatar to implement the Kuwait agreement.

“But unfortunately, these efforts did not result in Qatar’s agreement to abide by these measures, which prompted the three countries to start what they saw as necessary, to protect their security and stability, by withdrawing their ambassadors from Qatar starting from today, March 5 2013,” the statement added.

The statement went on to explain that GCC countries were looking to ratify a unified policy which prohibits any member state from directly or indirectly interfering in the internal affairs of another.

The Saudi-run Al Arabiya news network said that the security issues mentioned in the statement were in reference to Qatar’s alleged backing of the Muslim Brotherhood organisation, which has since been banned and labeled a terrorist group in its country of origin, Egypt.

The Muslim Brotherhood organisation is also banned in most of the GCC countries.

Source: Agencies