Saudi Arabia, Qatar Move To Seal Ties With Joint Council

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AFP)--Gulf neighbors Saudi Arabia and Qatar are to demarcate their border and set up a joint council to develop relations after years of tension, the official SPA news agency reported. The decision was taken after two successive visits last week to the Saudi summer capital of Jeddah on the Red Sea by Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani, it said. The move is a further step towards normalizing relations between the two members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council. In 1992, differences over the frontier sparked an armed clash at a border post that killed two people. The incident prompted the creation of a joint committee aimed at solving the dispute, but little progress was made. Ten years later Riyadh withdrew its ambassador from Qatar in 2002 amid... [read full story]