Tuesday (June 5) marks the first anniversary of the day when four Arab states - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain – cut ties with neighbouring Qatar. The four states accused Qatar of funding terrorism, a charge which Qatar has denied.

Below is a timeline of how the crisis began, and how it has subsequently developed.

June 2017:

The four states announced they would sever diplomatic and transport ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting Islamist militants and Iran. Qatar denied the accusations.

The move had an immediate impact on business and trade deals between the states involved, which include three of the region’s biggest economies – Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt.

Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain said they would cut air, sea and land transport links with Qatar. Qatari nationals based in the four countries were also given 14 days to leave.

Qatar’s stock market index sank 7.3 percent on June 5, 2017, the day that the boycott was announced, with some of the top blue-chips were hit hard. Several Egyptian banks also announced plans to suspend dealings with Qatari banks.

Jordan also announced it would downgrade its diplomatic representation with Qatar and revoked the licence of the Doha-based Al Jazeera TV channel on June 6. Governments in Yemen, the Maldives, Mauritania Libya’s eastern-based government, Mauritania and the Union of Comoros also announced they were cutting ties with Qatar.

Kuwait’s ruler Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah began mediation efforts in the hope resolving the rift between Qatar and the four Arab states, calling on all the involved states to overcome the diplomatic dispute.

September 2017:

Qatar’s stock index fell to a five-year low after as shares of Qatar Insurance dropped 2.3 percent after the company said it is closing its Abu Dhabi branch.

November 2017:

Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain would not participate in a Qatar-hosted soccer tournament for Arab nations that was scheduled to take place in December 2017.

December 2017:

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain sent ministers or deputy prime ministers to attend an annual Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit that took place in Kuwait which is usually attended by head of states.  Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani attended the summit.

Qatar’s economy has largely recovered from the Arab-boycott decision, Reuters reported, citing figures released by the statistics ministry. The number showed that Qatar’s GDP rose 1.9 percent in the third quarter of 2017 compared to the third quarter of the previous year.

March, 2018

An IMF report said that the boycott’s direct economic and financial impacts on Qatar were fading.

April, 2018

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed in a phone call that the six countries of the GCC “can and should do more to increase coordination with each other and with the United States,” the White House said in a statement.

May, 2018

Qatar’s tourism sector has negatively been affected by the boycott. A report by Qatar’s Tourism Authority showed that the number of travellers who visited Qatar declined by 38 percent to 535,300 in the first quarter of 2018, from 864,440 in the first quarter of the previous year, Mubasher said, citing figures from the Tourism Authority.

(Writing by Yasmine Saleh; Editing by Michael Fahy)

(yasmine.saleh@thomsonreuters.com)

 

© ZAWYA 2018