UAE leader announces surprise visit to Qatar after boycott

“This visit builds on the existing fraternal relationship between the two countries and their peoples,” WAM said in its brief report.

Sheikh Mohammed is widely considered by analysts to be one of the main masterminds behind the boycott of Qatar that began in 2017 by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

At the height of the Qatar crisis, newspaper columns even suggested that a trench be dug along the 87-kilometer (54-mile) border and filled with nuclear waste. While the rhetoric is rhetoric, it shows how deep the region’s anger is at the dispute — Kuwait’s then ruler suggested it almost sparked a war.

It has its roots in Qatar’s support for Islamists who came to power in Egypt and elsewhere after the 2011 Arab Spring. Qatar sees their arrival as a sea change from geriatric rule sweeping the Middle East, while other Gulf Arab states see the protests as a threat to their authoritarian and hereditary rule.

During the 2011 protests, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates sent troops to help violently suppress demonstrations in Bahrain.

The boycott led the four countries to close air and sea routes to Qatar until January 2021, before President Joe Biden takes office in the United States. The boycott began immediately after then-President Donald Trump visited the region early in his presidency.

The opening ceremony of the World Cup coincided with Qatar taking on Ecuador in their opening match, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi were seen in attendance. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has provided a vital lifeline to Qatar during the crisis, took the podium with world leaders.

The ruler of Dubai was also present with his son, while Sheikh Mohammed was not. However, he called Sheikh Tamim the next day and “congratulated” Qatar on hosting the World Cup – unthinkable at the height of the diplomatic crisis.

Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.