Update on Gulf crisis: Qatar FM meets UN Security Council members

The meeting took place one day after Al Thani’s visit to Washington DC, “where US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson promised to try to help resolve the gulf crisis,” Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey, reporting from New York, said.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic tieswith Qatar on June 5 over allegations that it supports “extremism” and is too close to Iran – charges Doha has repeatedly denied.

After more than two weeks, the four Arab countries gave Doha a 10-day ultimatum to comply with a 13-point list of demands in exchange for the end of the anti-Qatar measures.

Thani in New York.

The Qatari foreign minister was set to return to Doha after the meeting, where “his country will continue to press its case with a number of different organisation like the international civil aviation organisation, the international maritime organisation, and the human rights council in Geneva,” Al Jazeera’s Saloumi said.

“But no formal action is expected here in the Security Council.”

Airspace blockade

Meanwhile, Qatar’s transport minister has met twice this past week with the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) at its headquarters in Montreal, Canada, asking it to intervene in the crisis.

For nearly a month, many Qatar Airways flights to and from Doha have had to make huge detours, thanks to the airspace blockade by the Saudi-led bloc of states.

It has been costly to the airline, disruptive to passengers and, according to the Qataris, dangerous to passengers and illegal under international law.

“Really it’s not a political issue, we are talking here about a technical issue, which means safety and security of the aviation,” Qatar’s Minister of Transport and Communications, Jassim Saif Al Sulaiti, told Al Jazeera.

“I don’t mean just Qatar Airways, but all the international [airlines].”

Al Jazeera’s Daniel Lak, reporting from Montreal, said it was a challenging case for an agency that is “highly technical and known to be publicity shy”.

The ICAO works on regulation, flight routing and other issues that may not obvious to most travellers, but keep the world’s airlines and airspace running as smoothly as possible.

“The situation comes as Qatar Airways has been growing exponentially with profits soaring more than 20 percent this year,” Al Jazeera’s Lak said.

“It’s one of the world’s leading long-haul airlines and has ambitious plans to buy more planes and fly to more places.”

It recently celebrated its 10th anniversary of flights into New York by lighting the Empire State Building in the airline’s colours. And just last month it announced it wanted to buy 10 percent of American Airlines.

“While a negotiated solution to this Gulf crisis seems stalled, Qatar believes its best hope for an end to this air blockade at least might be the technical, safety and security arguments it’s advancing at the International Civil Aviation Organization,” said Lak.

Source: Al Jazeera News