Qatar is a
sovereign country located in Western Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula
on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is
with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its territory surrounded by
the Persian Gulf. Following Ottoman rule, Qatar became a British protectorate
in the early 20th century until gaining independence in 1971.
It is in news ~ The State Department issued an unusual public
warning to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday over a
diplomatic rift with fellow U.S. ally Qatar, and suggested that the Saudis may
have provoked a crisis and drawn in the United States on false pretenses. Department
spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the administration was “mystified” that — two
weeks after announcing a diplomatic and economic embargo against Qatar over
alleged support for terrorism — Saudi Arabia and the UAE have not publicly
detailed their complaints. Nauert queried :
“At this point, we are left with one simple question: Were the actions
really about their concerns about Qatar’s alleged support for terrorism, or
were they about the long-simmering grievances between and among the GCC
countries?”
All three nations are part
of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council, a loose diplomatic confederation of
mostly wealthy Persian Gulf states. Of them, Saudi Arabia is the most powerful.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, along with Egypt, severed diplomatic ties
with Qatar this month and blocked trade and passenger traffic through their
territory and airspace in protest of what the three said was Qatar’s backing of
extremist Islamist organizations, as well as its ties to Iran.
The blockade is cause of
for some Indians too - airlifting citizens in times of emergency is not
something new to India and it is planning yet another “airlift” for its people
stuck in blockade-hit Qatar, reports The Times of India. A source from the
Aviation Ministry told TOI that Air India Express has been tasked with the
mission; it will operate special flights between Kerala and Doha from June 25
to July 8. Air India Express is slated to use Boeing 737, with sitting capacity
of Boeing 737. Jet Airways will operate extra flights between Mumbai and Doha
on Thursday and Friday, added the report.
External Affairs Minister
SushmaSwaraj earlier spoke to the Aviation Minister A Gajapathy Raju at the
beginning of this week, requesting additional flights “to Doha for Indian
nationals who were not able to get bookings but needed to reach the country
back from Doha.”
On a
different plane, more than a 1,000 camels have been caught up in the dispute
between Qatar and neighbouring Gulf countries. Saudi Arabia shut its border
with Qatar on June 5 and travellers between the two countries, including
camels, found themselves stranded. Saudi authorities expelled more than 12,000
camels and 5,000 sheep and their Qatari herders from its territory.
The showdown between Qatar
and its neighbours has disrupted trade, split families and threatened to alter
long-standing geopolitical alliances. Most
of the fresh milk and dairy products for Doha’s more than 1 million population
came from Saudi Arabia up until recently.
That milk is getting scarce after the kingdom, the United Arab Emirates
and two allies cut transport links with a country that spends $500m a week to
prepare stadiums and a metro before the soccer World Cup in 2022.
Al Khayyat,
whose main business is a construction firm that built Qatar’s biggest mall, has tried out an innovative answer. Last fortnight, a ship from Australia
carrying thousands of sheep arrived at Qatar's Hamad port. A prominent
businessmen last week announced plans to airlift 4,000 cows into the desert
country. On a cattle farm in the desert
outside Doha, hundreds of cows imported from the Netherlands are led into an
air-conditioned hall to be milked by Asian workers in orange uniforms. Ghadeer
farm, set among scrubland near a U.S. air base, is scrambling to meet a surge
in demand for milk caused by a Saudi-led economic boycott of Qatar that has
raised fears of food shortages in a country dependent on imports.
At the farm, black cows
stood ankle-deep in mud under hangers as workers unloaded bags of grass from
tractors. "It's been non-stop and we are exhausted. The cows are exhausted
too," said a worker from Nepal.
"We are confident we can increase production but we need to ensure we have
enough food for the cows and better facilities." The farm, set up in 1985,
was the first attempt to rear cattle on an industrial scale in the Arabian
Peninsula country where fierce temperatures and vast gas revenues mean food and
fresh produce are typically flown or shipped in.
Food insecurity has long
preoccupied Qatar which shares its only land border with Saudi Arabia and buys
80 percent of its food from the neighbours that have ostracised it. The
government has acquired farmland in countries like Sudan and is growing crops
on vast farms in the desert with water piped in from desalination plants. Qatari
traders say they can avert shortages and survive the boycott by striking deals
with new suppliers from places like India and China. But the sanctions have led
to worry on the farm. This prompted one Qatari businessman to fly 4,000
cows to the Gulf desert in an act of resistance and opportunity to fill the
void left by a collapse in the supply of fresh milk. It will take as many as 60 flights for Qatar
Airways to deliver the 590-kilogramme beasts that Moutaz Al Khayyat, chairman
of Power International Holding, bought in Australia and the US “This is the
time to work for Qatar,” he said.
Turkey has replaced
products that disappeared from supermarket shelves, including yoghurt and
laban, while Morocco and Iran have pledged to supply the emirate with foodstuffs. Qatar has negotiated new cargo handling
arrangements in the Omani ports of Sohar and Salalah, avoiding the need for
goods to stop in the UAE. Shipments of containers through the UAE port of Jebel
Ali were frozen last week. Qatar has also appealed to international aviation
authorities to rule as illegal the overflight ban imposed on Qatar Airways by
its neighbours, and has briefed lawyers to challenge the flight and other
restrictions in the courts.
On Sunday Saudi Arabia’s
arch-rival Iran announced it had sent five planes carrying produce to Qatar.
Three ships carrying 350 tonnes of food were also set to leave Iran for the
emirate. Meantime, it is not all that
honey and milk for the imported cows. With temperatures approaching 50 degrees,
the cows are suffering heat stress and producing less milk, states one and
there is also shortage of grain supplements to feed the cows and boost their
milk volumes but the grain comes from the UAE !
The ostensible reason for
the blockade – that the Qataris have funded terror – is as easily applicable to
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. Instead, the real motivation appears to be
punishment for Qatar’s independent foreign policy, which is underwritten by an
expansive and canny global investment strategy from London to Tokyo. The county
has hosted members of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas and pursued a
conciliatory relationship with Iran, with which it shares a large gas field.
Whilst so
much of demand – is good news for suppliers elsewhere, there is also a concern
that Ship and cargo owners have been told they should check with their insurers
if they are looking to trade with Qatar as diplomatic tensions in the region
continue to escalate. Ports in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab
Emirates (UAE) are understood to be closed to ships flying the Qatari flag.
Some ports may also be closed to ships, irrespective of their flag, that are
destined for or arriving from Qatari ports.
The row
has left marine insurers warning that clients will need to check their cover
carefully if their routes involve Qatar, despite the fact that there are no
official sanctions in place. Brokers in the London market have said
underwriters remain wary of offering cover to Qatari or Qatar-bound risks at
present. P&I clubs have been quick to offer guidance and warn owners they
need to be aware of the exclusions and prohibitions in coverage.
There is
no UN or other Official sanction – but a trade embargo. It means in practice
that ships flying the Qatari flag will not be allowed to call at certain other
ports in the region. Thus, it is not in
itself prohibited to insure a ship trading on Qatar. Some overcautious Insurers may decline or may
not be willing to cover shipments to Qatar, perceiving larger threat. Moreover higher percentage of goods being
shipped are in the nature of perishable goods. Perhaps the snowballing issue could have a
soft-death, before some Insurers decide their stand.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
22nd June 2017
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