Riyadh: A Gulf Arab summit called for regional unity as Bahrain and Qatar traded barbs over the Qatari emir’s decision not to attend the gathering in Saudi Arabia on Sunday in a sign that a row between Doha and its neighbours is still festering.
Qatar sent its state minister for foreign affairs to the annual one-day summit, which was overshadowed by the economic and diplomatic boycott of Doha since mid-2017 by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt over allegations Doha supports terrorism, which Qatar denies.
“Qatar’s emir should have accepted the fair demands (of the boycotting states) and attended the summit,” Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said in a tweet.
In response, Ahmed bin Saeed AlRumaihi, director of the information office at Qatar’s foreign ministry, said: “Qatar can make its own decisions and had attended (last year’s) Kuwait summit while the leaders of the boycotting countries did not.”
He later slammed the final communique for not addressing the boycott, which Qatar says aims to curtail its sovereignty.
The Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) summit of six member states was held as Riyadh faces international pressure over the Oct 2. murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate.
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman opened the gathering, urging fellow member states Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, the UAE and Qatar to maintain a united front against Iran and terrorism.
The UAE will host the next summit in 2019.
