RIYADH – Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said the political crisis with Qatar is unlikely to be solved “as long as Doha does not revise its policy,” Al-Hayat Arabic language daily newspaper quoted him as saying on Tuesday. “If the policy of the country that has caused the crisis (Qatar) has been revised, there will be a breakthrough,” said Prince Saud Al-Faisal. The minister added, in response to a question from the newspaper, that there will be “no American mediation to put an end to the crisis.” President Barack Obama is expected to visit Riyadh at the end of March. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates earlier this month recalled their ambassadors from Qatar after they said Doha failed to abide by an accord not to interfere in each others' internal affairs. The trio also said that Qatar had not “committed to the principles” of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and said “Qatar has to take the appropriate steps to ensure the security of the GCC states.” The GCC foreign ministers said they had met in Riyadh to try to persuade Qatar to implement the agreement. “But unfortunately, these efforts did not result in Qatar's agreement to abide by these measures, which prompted the three countries to start what they saw as necessary, to protect their security and stability, by withdrawing their ambassadors from Qatar starting from today, March 5 2013,” the statement said. GCC countries “have exerted massive efforts to contact Qatar on all levels to agree on a unified policy... to ensure non-interference, directly or indirectly, in the internal affairs of any member state,” the statement said. The nations have also asked Qatar, “not to support any party aiming to threaten security and stability of any GCC member,” it added, citing media campaigns against them in particular. They stressed that despite the commitment of Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani to these principles during a mini-summit held in Riyadh in November with Kuwait's emir and King Abdullah, his country has failed to comply. – SG
