On the Qatar Bahrain naval skirmish 25, May 2010
Posted by thegulfblog.com in Bahrain, Qatar.Tags: Bahrain, Fishing skirmish, Gulf naval skirmish, Qatar, Qatar Bahrain skirmish
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A few more scraps of information regarding the Bahrain-Qatar skirmish:
- The GCC are discussing a system that would allow each member state to fish within each other’s boundaries, reinforcing the idea that it was just a fishing-border demarcation incident
- Manama said that Doha is still holding 106 Bahraini fisherman
- Qatar downgraded its representation at a Bahraini Petrochemical conference
- This incident where the Qataris shot a Bahraini fisherman comes less than a year after a Qatari coastguard boat rammed a Bahraini boat over, I believe, similar issues
- The Bahraini Foreign Minister (rightly) said that the Qatari coastguard ought to have shot at, for example, the ship’s engines and not the sailors
- Qatar initially dropped all charges against the sailor that it shot and his crew but later changed their minds. They also refused to let a Bahraini medical crew visit him.
Update:
Qatar has released 9 Bahrainis who had been held over the recent trespassing incident.
The (unusually informative) article in the Gulf News also pointed out a latent issue between Qatar and Bahrain being Qatar’s refusal to acquiesce to the appointing of Mohammad Al Mutawa, Bahrain’s former information minister, as rotating GCC Secretary General. Although it is Bahrain’s turn to appoint the post, Qatar are apparently angry over Mutawa’s stance over the now settled border ICJ conclusion between the two countries.
The Gulf blog 
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