The Gulf crisis and what it means for journalism in the region

The Gulf Arab crisis has prompted me to think about how it will affect journalism in the region. This is because I was a journalist based in Dubai for 8.5 years, first on a national newspaper, Khaleej Times, and then head of a newswire service, Mergermarket,that focused on mergers and acquisitions across North Africa and the Middle East.

 During that time, particularly in the latter years, I used to fly to Doha in Qatar a great deal, mainly on FlyDubai- a low cost airline that started in 2008. Emirates Airline supported the airline in its early stages. Consequently with no flights currently between the UAE and Qatar I would not have been able to do my job.

 Many conferences were held in Doha. Will conferences continue to be held there? If the matter is resolved quickly, it shouldn’t put organisers off, given that it is likely that no conference will take place until at least September- after Ramadan and the summer. By this time, the conference planning and organisation would be well underway, and there is probably no turning back now. If the planned conference is for mid next year onwards, and the dispute continues – perhaps for a matter of weeks-or months - organisers possibly have the chance to move it to another city, probably Dubai or Abu Dhabi. There may not only be the logistical problem; there may be a catering one as well, since most of the food is imported, often by land.

 On this, Turkey has stepped in to fill the breach; food exporters in that country will supply Qatar’s food.

 But it’s not just Qatari locals who will be affected. Foreign expats with a residence visa for Qatar won’t be allowed to enter the UAE either, making a simple choice for anybody looking to live in the Middle East. The clear message is; don’t live in Qatar; live somewhere else such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt or Libya and, if you won’t to go to a less developed country, you could always go to Mauritania, or The Maldives, or Yemen.

According to Doha-based Aljazeera, Standard & Poor's (S&P) downgraded Qatar's debt on Wednesday as the country's riyal currency fell to an 11-year low amid signs that portfolio investment funds were flowing out because of the rift.

S&P cut its long-term rating of Qatar by one notch to AA- from AA and put the rating on CreditWatch with negative implications, meaning there was a significant chance of a further downgrade, the report said.

There have also been news reports that Qatar’s miltary forces have put on high alert on the country's southern border with Saudi Arabia, which Qatar has played down, according to the report.

"The ministry of defence is always on alert to protect the borders of the state of Qatar from a 360-degree approach - land, sea and air - 24 hours a day, every day of the year," said a ministry statement sent to Al Jazeera. 

 And what was the reason for the rift between the Gulf countries? Aljazeera explains the dispute like this:

“Qatar's original sin was in attempting to forge a path independent of Saudi's traditional hegemony in the region. Since the mid-1990s, Qatar has tried to escape the looming Saudi shadow, at times by developing even closer ties with traditional Saudi allies like the United States, which relocated its military's Central Command to Qatar after 9/11 and used it to launch the 2003 invasion of Iraq.”

And how would the the Saudi-Emirati bloc affect internationally established media organisations and research institutions? Moreover, how will it affect independent thought across the Arab world?

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Friday, 29 March 2024