Tillerson to help resolve GCC row

Kuwait City : US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived yesterday in Kuwait, the key mediator between Qatar and its Arab neighbours, for talks aimed at defusing the Gulf’s worst crisis in years.

Tillerson will shuttle between Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia from until Thursday in what is the first serious intervention by Washington in the Gulf crisis.

He immediately held talks with Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah who is leading the mediation effort between the Gulf states, the official KUNA news agency reported.

Tillerson is due to discuss the crisis later with Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah.

UK National Security Advisor Mark Sidwell, who was also received by the emir, is scheduled to attend part of the meeting between Tillerson and the Kuwaiti foreign minister.

The dispute has seen a Saudi-led alliance impose sanctions on Doha over its alleged ties to both Islamist extremist groups and Shiite-dominated Iran. 

As they met in Egypt last week, Saudi Arabia and its allies said they planned to tighten sanctions against the gas-rich emirate, after Qatar refused to comply with a list of demands.

A spokesman for Tillerson said ahead of his landing in Kuwait that it remained to be seen “if there’s even a possibility of some outcomes” towards resolving the crisis.

“Right now, after Egypt, we’re months away from what we think would be an actual resolution and that’s very discouraging,” RC Hammond told reporters.

Ability to manoeuvre

Tillerson, the former chief executive of energy giant Exxon Mobil, arrives in the Gulf after a stop in Istanbul, where he discussed the Syria war and a failed 2016 coup in Turkey.

Analysts say Tillerson’s success in the Gulf may be contingent on his ability to manoeuvre regional scepticism over conflicting stances from Washington on the crisis.

US President Donald Trump initially supported longtime US ally Saudi Arabia, but his stance was later contradicted when the US Department of State took a more neutral position. 

Tillerson’s impact largely depends on whether regional officials “believe that the secretary of state is fully backed by President Trump”, London-based political analyst Neil Partrick said.

“If Tillerson can convincingly frame his mission as delivering a deal for the United States that is all about defeating terrorism... then he may have some chance,” said Partrick, who focuses on Gulf politics. 

But despite strong mediation efforts by Kuwait and others, governments across the region say they may remain deadlocked for the foreseeable future. 

“No diplomatic effort or... mediation will succeed without Doha being rational, mature and realistic,” UAE state minister for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash tweeted last week.