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Russia urges dialogue, Jokowi calls Erdogan in Qatar-Gulf dispute

Russia on Saturday called for dialogue to resolve a dispute between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors, as Riyadh and its allies welcomed United States President Donald Trump’s demand that Doha stop funding extremist groups

Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta/Dubai
Mon, June 12, 2017

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Russia urges dialogue, Jokowi calls Erdogan in Qatar-Gulf dispute

R

ussia on Saturday called for dialogue to resolve a dispute between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors, as Riyadh and its allies welcomed United States President Donald Trump’s demand that Doha stop funding extremist groups.

Rights group Amnesty International warned of “heartbreak and fear” suffered by ordinary people caught in the diplomatic crossfire.

Moscow’s appeal came after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson encouraged Saudi Arabia and its allies to ease their land and sea “blockade” of gas-rich Qatar.

On Monday, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen and the Maldives severed ties with Qatar, accusing it of backing terrorism, and imposed punitive measures.

Niger on Saturday recalled its ambassador to Doha “for consultations,” the foreign minister in Niamey tweeted.

Qatar called the accusations baseless and dispatched Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on a diplomatic offensive to enlist support from abroad.

On Saturday, he was in Moscow to see Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, after visiting Germany and Brussels.

“We cannot be happy in a situation when the relations between our partners are worsening,” Lavrov said.

“We are in favor of resolving any disagreements through [...] dialogue.”

Russia is “ready to try to do everything in its power” to help resolve the crisis, he said.

Sheikh Mohammed said his aim was to inform Russia about “illegal measures” taken against Qatar.

Meanwhile, during a working trip to the West Javanese city of Tasikmalaya on Saturday, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo expressed intent for Indonesia to take an active role in resolving the current tensions in the
Middle East.

The President said he was still looking into the crux of the matter before deciding on a course of action that Indonesia will take to mediate the Qatari diplomatic crisis. For this he has spoken with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, with modest success.

“I’m still looking for an opening [to figure out] what the actual problem is that the clashes are so great,” he said on the sidelines of a visit to Miftahul Huda Islamic boarding school in Manonjaya regency, Tasikmalaya.

As the largest Muslim-majority country in the world, Jokowi insists Indonesia is in a good position to be an honest broker in this growing rift among Gulf Arab countries.

During a keynote address to a regional forum in Jakarta on Friday, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi called on disputing parties to prioritize dialogue and reconciliation and expressed Indonesia’s readiness to prevent the situation from escalating.

“Peace and stability in the Middle East is not only important for the Middle East, but also for the international community,” she said. Despite Kuwaiti efforts to mediate, the crisis appeared to escalate on Friday as Saudi Arabia released a joint statement listing 59 Qatari entities and individuals, including members of the royal family, as involved in “terrorist” activities.

Trump told a White House news conference that Qatar “has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level” and said “they have to end that funding.”

Qatar’s detractors seized on his remarks as vindication of their stance.

The UAE welcomed “President Trump’s leadership in challenging Qatar’s troubling support for extremism.”

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