Kuwaiti emir meets German FM amid ongoing Gulf crisis

By Mohammed Abdul Ghaffar

KUWAIT CITY (AA) - Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al Sabah on Wednesday met with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and members of an accompanying delegation.

The meeting was attended by Kuwaiti Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Jaber Al Sabah, according to Kuwait’s official KUNA news agency, which provided no further details.

On Monday, Gabriel began a tour of the Gulf States, which has already brought him to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar.

The German FM’s visit to Kuwait comes one day after Kuwait's minister of state for cabinet affairs delivered Qatar's response to a list of demands -- issued last month by four fellow Arab states -- to Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubair.

On Wednesday morning, the four Arab states announced that Qatar had responded to their list of demands, saying they would reply to Doha’s response “in a timely manner”.

On June 5, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain all abruptly cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of meddling in their domestic affairs and supporting terrorist groups.

The four states later presented Qatar with a list of 13 demands -- including the closure of pan-Arab news broadcaster Al Jazeera -- which they said must be met before the embargo is lifted.

They later gave Doha a 10-day deadline by which to respond to their demands, which expired midnight Tuesday.

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said earlier that Qatar had replied to the list of demands on Monday “in keeping with the principle of national sovereignty and international law”.