A multilateral diplomat Dr Babafemi Badejo has hailed what he sees as a peace move initiated by a Bahraini leader to Qatar, saying it accorded with the Ramadan spirit.
According to him, preventing the scourge of conflicts and wars through the waging of peace is not for the United Nations (UN) alone.
“Waging of peace through prevention of wars and managing conflicts towards de-escalation should be a major preoccupation of all human beings and states,” he said.
Badejo, a former UN senior official who consults for the African Union (AU), said the peace move in the Gulf during “the tense military buildup” is commendable.
He said in a statement: “The spirit of Ramadan had inspired an unexpected call by the Prime Minister of Bahrain, His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa on May 6, 2019 to the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
“This is in spite of the cold war between Qatar on the one hand and the alliance of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and Bahrain on the other.
“New and welcomed developments are the invitations from the His Majesty King Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Guardian of the two Holy Mosques to the Emir of Qatar to attend meetings of the Gulf Cooperation Council on May 30, 2019 and the League of Arab States on June 1, 2019 respectively in Mecca.”
Badejo noted that Qatar has been accused of interference in the internal affairs of its neighbors, an accusation that Qatar denies.
“Things came to a head five years ago when Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain withdrew their Ambassadors from Doha, Qatar.
“Though some attempts, including an agreement shrouded in secrecy were reached, the problem of lack of trusts persisted until the new and stronger resolve of the Saudi led alliance that includes Egypt to ostracize and blockade Qatar in 2017.
“The erstwhile cold war could be said to have become a warm war, more so with a blocakade in place beyond withdrawal of Ambassadors,” he said.
Badejo hopes that the Emir of Qatar would accept the invitations from the Saudi King to attend the two meetings.
He is optimistic that the meetings would start the thawing of the tensions within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
“The entire globe stands to win from peace within the GCC,” he said.
Leave a Reply