Qatar rift overshadows Gulf Arab summit as emir stays away

Qatar sent its state minister for foreign affairs to the annual one-day summit, which was overshadowed by the economic and diplomatic boycott of Doha since mid-2017 by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt over allegations Doha supports terrorism, which Qatar denies. "Qatar's emir should have accepted the fair demands (of the boycotting states) and attended the summit," Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said in a tweet. In response, Ahmed bin Saeed AlRumaihi, director of the information office at Qatar's foreign ministry, said: "Qatar can make its own decisions and had attended (last year's) Kuwait summit while the leaders of the boycotting countries did not." He later slammed the final communique for not addressing the boycott, which Qatar says aims to curtail its sovereignty.

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