Saudi Arabia Refuses to Allow Official Visit by Qatari FM

24/07/2002| IslamWeb

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani implicitly acknowledged on Tuesday that a "misunderstanding" had put Doha at odds with neighboring Saudi Arabia. However, he emphasized that he was keen to patch up relations.

"Qatar wants to have good relations with all member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, and above all Saudi Arabia, based on mutual respect and confidence," Sheikh Hamad told the Qatar News Agency during a visit to Sanaa.

"Any misunderstanding must be settled in a brotherly spirit as members of the same family and in such a way to serve the interests of both sides," he said. The Qatari foreign minister acknowledged that he had still received no reply to a request to visit the Saudi Kingdom on his current regional tour which has already taken him to Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates as well as Yemen.

"We have asked our brothers in Saudi Arabia for permission to pay them a visit but we still haven't received a reply," Sheikh Hamad told QNA. Moreover, he insisted that his country had "not sought any mediation" from its fellow Gulf states.

But while Sheikh Hamad was in Sanaa Tuesday, Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh phoned Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to discuss the "Arab situation", the official Saudi Press Agency reported

On Monday, Al-Hayat's bureau chief in the Saudi Kingdom, Dawood al-Sharyan said that the Qatar-based satellite television channel Al-Jazeera was behind the row between Qatar and Saudi Arabia. According to the bureau chief of the Saudi-owned Al-Hayat daily "Riyadh was annoyed" by two programs broadcast by Al-Jazeera that featured Saudi Islamist opposition members and during which the "Mideast peace plan proposed by the Saudi crown prince was blasted and the founder of the kingdom, King Abdul Aziz al-Saud, was denigrated."

Speaking to reporters in Kuwait on arrival there on Sunday, Sheikh Hamad refused to comment on speculation that the row was sparked by Al-Jazeera.

PHOTO CAPTION

SH Hamad Ben Jassim Ben Jabor Al-Thani Speaking to reporters