Qatar’s Sheikh Al Thani invited to GCC summit in Riyadh

Announcement by Qatari media signals a possible major thaw in the Arabian Gulf

Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani and his father, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, at an Arabian Gulf Cup football match in Doha, November 26, 2019. EPA

Qatar’s state media said Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani has been invited to next week’s Gulf Cooperation Council annual meeting in Riyadh.

The announcement could help lift ties between Qatar and Arabian Gulf nations from a two-and-half-year deep freeze.

The official Qatari news agency said Sheikh Al Thani had received a written invitation from King Salman, “the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia inviting His Highness the Amir to attend the GCC Supreme Council 40th session to be held in Riyadh, on December 10.”

The GCC’s most recent annual summit was held in Riyadh in December 2019. EPA

Highlighting the invitation in state media as well as Saudi guardianship of the holiest of Islam’s sites is a departure from the escalatory rhetoric that has marked ties between Qatar and Riyadh.

A French political source who has been following the dispute told The National that Sheikh Tamim will attend the summit for the first time since ties with Riyadh deteriorated.

The source said pressure by the US, as well as mediation by Kuwait, means that “Qatar would have to go”.

“This situation is so damaging that even Trump is pushing hard to stop it, “the source said, referring the US president.

“Sheikh Tamim will go because the US is saying enough is enough and the new secretary general of the GCC is Kuwaiti, which will help build trust,” the source added.

Kuwait’s finance minister, Nayef Al Hajraf, was named in November as the new GCC secretary general, replacing his Omani predecessor.

Under US pressure, Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister, attended in May two emergency meetings in Makkah for the GCC and the Arab League.

King Salman convened the meetings in response to the attacks claimed by the Houthi militia, which is supported by Iran, on Saudi Aramco’s oil facilities.

But Qatar later said it disagrees with concluding statements issued after the meetings condemning Iranian interference in the region’s affairs.

Qatar sent a junior minister to represent it at the 39th GCC summit in Riyadh last year.