2023-06-19 08:50:04
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The governments of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar announced the reopening of their embassies Monday following a year-long dispute over Qatar’s support for Islamist groups.
Both countries issued statements saying that the Qatari Embassy in Abu Dhabi and a Qatari consulate in Dubai, as well as a United Arab Emirates Embassy in the Qatari capital, Doha, had resumed operations. The statements did not indicate whether there were ambassadors at the site and whether the missions were open to the public.
The foreign ministers of the two countries spoke by phone to congratulate each other on the reopening of diplomatic missions, according to Qatar.
The United Arab Emirates joined Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt in imposing a boycott and blockade on Qatar in 2017 over its support for Islamist groups across the Middle East who seized power in the immediate followingmath of the Arab Spring protests. The other Arab countries of the Persian Gulf view these groups as terrorists, including Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, which won free and fair elections.
The unprecedented diplomatic crisis between the normally friendly Persian Gulf countries initially raised fears of armed conflict. But Qatar’s gas riches and close ties to Turkey and Iran isolated it as economic sanctions and relations slowly thawed.
The boycott was officially lifted in January 2021. Late last year, Qatar hosted visiting leaders Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates to host the soccer World Cup.
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