Qatar-Gulf crisis: All the latest updates

Qatar-Gulf crisis: All the latest updates

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The latest news after some of the Gulf states and Egypt cut ties with Qatar and imposed a land, sea and air blockade.

SUMMARY

The latest developments since several countries, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, cut ties with Qatar on June 5. (All times local Doha time).

3:00pm – US envoy to Kuwait urges ‘fair’ solution to Gulf crisis 

  • The US ambassador to Kuwait has called for a “fair” solution to the Gulf dispute.
  • In a statement on Sunday, Lawrence R. Silverman reiterated the US support for Kuwaiti efforts to mediate a solution to the crisis.

8:30pm – Al Jazeera will not shut down

  • Giles Trendle, the acting managing director of Al Jazeera English, said on Saturday that the Doha-based media network would not be closing despite demands by Saudi Arabia and its allies.
  • “We stand strong and we will continue to do what we do, which is reporting the world frankly and fairly,” he said.

8pm – Qatar hires law firm to probe violations from blockade

  • The Qatari National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) and a Swiss law firm, Lalive, signed a contract in Geneva on Saturday to investigate thousands of cases of human rights violations from a Saudi-led blockade on Qatar and seek compensation.
  • Lalive, which specialises in mass claims, said it will pursue the cases in local and international tribunals.
  • “The sanctions imposed on Qatar go too far and are not in accordance with international law. Ordinary Qatari nationals and companies are not part of the State and cannot be targeted,” Veijo Heiskanen, the lead lawyer on the case, told Al Jazeera.
  • “A political dispute between States does not justify sanctions against private citizens, companies and other private entities. The Qatar National Committee for Human Rights is therefore justified to pursue these claims,” he said.

6:55pm – Qatar’s FM: A list of demands ‘was meant to be rejected’

  • Qatar’s Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said at the news conference in the Italian capital of Rome on Saturday that the list of demand issued by Saudi Arabia and its allies “was meant to be rejected”.
  • “Everyone is aware that these demands are meant to infringe the sovereignty of the state of Qatar, shut the freedom of speech and impose auditing and probation mechanism for Qatar,” he said.
  • “The blockading countries have disrespected the international law, disrespected the world order.”
  • “Qatar has dealt with this matter in a very mature and responsible way while the escalation has continued from the other countries.”
  • He urged for a dialogue and negotiations.

6:16pm – Putin and Qatar’s Emir hold phone conversation

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin has stressed the importance of diplomacy to end a dispute between Qatar and four other Arab states during a telephone call with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the Kremlin said on Saturday.
  • The Kremlin said in a statement the Russian and Qatari leaders also discussed cooperation between their countries in energy and investment.

5:20pm – Putin discusses Gulf crisis with Bahrain’s king

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the Gulf crisis with Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa in a telephone call, the Kremlin said on Saturday.
  • Putin stressed the need for direct dialogue between all governments involved in the dispute, which is exerting a negative influence on the Middle East, the Kremlin said.

4:10pm – Erdogan meets Qatar’s defence minister

  • Qatar’s Defence Minister Khalid bin Mohammed al-Attiyah met with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday in Ankara.
  • Erdogan has rejected the demand of Saudi Arabia and its allies for an end to Turkish troop presence in Doha, calling it “disrespectful” and saying that Turkey would not seek permission from others over its defence cooperation agreements.
  • Turkey says the Turkish troop deployment to Qatar aims to enhance regional security and is not aimed against any specific country.
  • “There are some indications that a solution is possible. This is our general impression. We need to continue efforts to take measures that go in the right direction,” Turkey’s presidential spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said after the meeting.

2:54pm – Saudi Arabia says demands for Qatar ‘non-negotiable’

  • Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubair said on Saturday that a 13-point list of demands given to Qatar to end the gulf rift were “non-negotiable”.
  • “Demands on Qatar to stop funding terrorism are non-negotiable,” the Jubair said on the Saudi Foreign Minisry’s official Twitter account.  “Restrictions on Qatar show zero tolerance for terrorism.”
  • The Saudi-led bloc of states gave Qatar 10 days to respond to the sweeping list of demands. The deadline is reportedly set to end at 21:00 GMT on Sunday.

9:33am – Qatar calls for UN Security Council help in Gulf row

  • Qatar’s foreign minister has asked members of the United Nations Security Council to urge a Saudi-led bloc of states to lift their blockade on the Gulf country, nearly one month after it began.
  • Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Friday met with non-permanent members of the Security Council at the Qatari mission to the UN in the US state of New York, urging them to speak out publicly on his country’s behalf.
  • Al Thani told Al Jazeera he gave them “updates on the situation” and urged “all of them to call for a lifting of the blockade on Qatar”.
  • Qatar was “trying to encourage all the parties to enter a serious dialogue to try to put an end to this,” the foreign minister said.

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