RIYADH, Feb. 17 -- The Saudi Arabian government welcomed the chance to mediate between Qatar and Bahrain in a dispute over control of the potentially oil-rich Hawar Islands in the Gulf, the Saudi Press Agency said Friday. The agency said the government expressed 'extreme relief and happiness' over requests from Qatar and Bahrain for King Fahd to take a role as mediator in their border dispute.
King Fahd lauded the two countries for a 'positive joint attitude,' the agency said, and officials planned to hold talks with representatives from both sides to decide how to proceed. The request for Saudi mediation followed a decision Wednesday on the case by the International Court of Justice at The Hague, which announced that it had voted 10-5 to consider the dispute. Bahrain boycotted the court session, arguing the court could not accept the case based on Qatar's unilateral request. The following day, Bahrain issued a statement that 'welcomed the Qatari call for solving the dispute in a comprehensive brotherly manner, ' the news agency said. Qatar and Bahrain, both former British protectorates, became independent in 1971. Both are members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, whose leaders issued a statement after a meeting last December that called for solving all border disputes between member states. Other GCC members are Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The dispute flared in April 1992, when Qatar issued a decree redefining its borders to include territorial waters claimed by Bahrain. The tiny Hawar Islands lie between the two Arab countries. It was not the first border dispute between them. Qatar and Bahrain faced off in April 1986 after Qatar raided an unrelated artificial island constructed by Bahrain off the Qatar mainland. The two countries eventually agreed to destroy the island.
