Tillerson to attempt to ease Qatar crisis with shuttle diplomacy

PanARMENIAN.Net - As the Gulf crisis over Qatar festers, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is embarking on his first shuttle diplomacy mission, heading to the region in a bid to end a deadlock that has badly damaged ties between several key American partners and threatens to hinder counter terrorism efforts, The Associated Press reports.

Tillerson will hop between Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia from Monday, July 10 until Thursday, the State Department said, meeting Arab leaders to test new ways of resolving the impasse that has persisted despite Kuwaiti efforts to mediate a resolution. U.S. officials said Monday that Tillerson did not expect to produce a breakthrough, which they warned could be more than a month away. Rather, they said, he wants to explore possibilities for bringing all sides to the negotiating table.

“We’ve had one round of exchanges and dialogue and didn’t advance the ball,” said senior Tillerson adviser R.C. Hammond. He referred to Qatar’s rejection of 13 demands that Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt set out restore diplomatic relations they severed and end a blockade they imposed on Qatar in early June. “We will work with Kuwait and see if we can hash out a different strategy.”

Hammond, speaking to reporters in Istanbul where Tillerson traveled after visiting Ukraine and attending the G-20 summit in Hamburg last week, said the 13 demands were not viable, at least as a package. “They are done, they are not worth revisiting as a package but individually there are things in there that could work.”

The list of ultimatums to restore ties and end the air- land- and sea embargo included demands to shut down the media network Al-Jazeera, cut ties with Islamist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, limit ties with Iran and expel Turkish troops stationed in Qatar.

Hammond would not elaborate on which of the 13 might be possible for Qatar to meet but he said concessions from the Saudis, Bahrainis, Emiratis and Egyptians would be required for a resolution. “This is a two-way street,” he said, referring in particular to allegations that all the players in the crisis have been involved in some way of funding extremists. “There are no clean hands.”

Washington’s primary concern is halting extremist financing to hold gains being made in Iraq and Syria and prevent the spread of terrorism, which has badly affected Europe. At the G-20 summit, Europeans voiced particular concern to President Donald Trump and Tillerson about the impact the Gulf crisis could have on that front, according to Hammond.

“The patience of the world has changed,” Hammond said, noting that both the British and German foreign ministers had visited Saudi Arabia and Qatar in the past week to discuss the importance of resolving the crisis quickly.