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Riyadh: The Saudi ambassador to Qatar is likely to return soon after a five-year hiatus due to a bilateral spat, diplomats and officials said yesterday.
Speaking to Gulf News, the officials said the meeting between Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz and Qatari Emir Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani during Ramadan "has succeeded in bringing warmth to Saudi-Qatari ties and could ease the running tension since 2002 between the two neighbours."
The Saudi foreign ministry is expected to take a decision soon enabling the return of the Saudi ambassador to Qatar, said one official who preferred not to be named.
The Saudi envoy was recalled for consultations by Riyadh in October 2002. No reasons were given for the Saudi move at that time, but observers said it was because Qatar-based Al Jazeera televised a debate in which participants strongly criticised the Saudi royal family.
Shaikh Hamad Bin Thamer Al Thani, chairman of the board of Al Jazeera, was among the official delegation accompanying the emir of Qatar, which indicates that the Saudi-Qatari summit discussed what Riyadh considered unacceptable and embarrassing intervention by the controversial TV channel in Saudi affairs, the official pointed out.
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