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European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini will visit
Kuwait on Sunday as part of the intensified mediation efforts to end the
Gulf standoff, the official news agency KUNA reported Monday.
"I will be visiting Kuwait, the mediator that we support and
accompany and with whom we are constantly in touch. So I will visit
Kuwait next Sunday," Mogherini, high representative of EU foreign
affairs and security policy, told a press conference in Brussels after a
meeting of EU foreign ministers.
Mogherini will express EU's support to the mediation efforts made by
Kuwait to find solution to the crisis between Qatar and four Arab
countries led by Saudi Arabia, the report said.
Kuwait has been playing the role of mediator since the Qatari crisis
started early last month, seeking a political solution to the dispute.
The Saudi-led bloc cut their diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed
an economic blockade on the tiny rich Gulf nation, accusing it of
supporting terrorism while interfering in their internal affairs. Doha
has denied all the charges, rejecting the 13 demands put forward by the
Saudi-led alliance for resuming diplomatic ties.
On Monday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian briefed his EU
counterparts on the outcome of his visit to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait
and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on July 15 and 16.
Mogherini said she had discussed with Le Drian during her visit to
Paris last week the messages he would bring to the Gulf region.
"We discussed in particular the need to avoid tensions in the Gulf,"
she said, noting the crisis has negative repercussions on the crisis in
Libya, a top priority for the EU.
Ahead of Le Drian's visit, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson,
British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson and German Foreign Minister
Sigmar Gabriel had already visited the Gulf respectively in an attempt
to calm down the tensions there and seek to broker an end to the crisis.
But so far no signs of easing of the crisis have emerged as the
rivaling sides refuse to back down.
