US’s Rex Tillerson seeks to get four Arab countries to ease Qatar boycott
Jeddah — US secretary of state Rex Tillerson began talks with four Arab states on Wednesday in efforts to ease a boycott of Qatar, after the countries labelled a US-Qatar terrorism financing accord an inadequate response to their concerns. Any resolution of the dispute must address all the key issues for Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt, including Doha’s undermining of regional stability, a senior UAE official said ahead of the talks in Saudi Arabia. His comments shed light on Tillerson’s uphill challenge. The four countries imposed sanctions on Qatar on June 5, accusing it of financing extremist groups and allying with the Gulf Arab states’ arch-foe Iran. Doha denies those accusations. The four states and Qatar are all US allies. Tillerson arrived in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah where he met ministers from the four nations to seek an end to the worst dispute among Gulf Arab states since the formation of their Gulf Co-operation Council regional body...
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