Dubai: The fate of a diplomatic row within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is weighing heavily on the minds of GCC citizens ahead of a crucial meeting after which much-anticipated decisions will be announced.

The row erupted in the open on March 5 when Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE pulled out their ambassadors from GCC member Qatar to protest against what they said was interference in their domestic affairs and non-compliance with the spirit and objectives of the six-member alliance set up in 1981.

Qatar denied the charges and said that it was fully committed to the GCC. Kuwait and Oman, the other two GCC members, kept their ambassadors in Qatar and launched mediation bids to narrow the ominously growing gap between the two sides.

A Kuwaiti mediation, led by its Emir, resulted in the signing of the Riyadh Agreement on April 17.

A technical committee, made up of delegates from all the member states, was set up to oversee the implementation of its recommendations. The committee report has now been given to the six GCC states and the foreign ministers are scheduled to hold a meeting on Saturday in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah to discuss it.

With GCC officials’ lips tightly sealed over the issue, and amid reports that Qatar has refused to sign the report, speculation about what could happen is inexorably mounting in the region.

A daily in Kuwait on Wednesday reported that Gulf diplomats have sounded an ominous note for the future of the unprecedented diplomatic row. “There are real difficulties [in regards to] the row between Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE on one side and Qatar on the other,” the diplomats said. “In fact, the situation is likely to escalate,” the sources who were not named said, quoted by Kuwaiti daily Al Rai.

A previously unannounced short visit by Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal, Interior Minister Prince Mohammad Bin Nayef Al Saud and the head of the General Intelligence Directorate Prince Khalid Bin Bandar Bin Abdul Aziz on Wednesday to Qatar has fuelled speculation over its significance.

London-based Al Arab daily on Thursday said that the visit was a “last chance for Qatar to realign its policy with that of the other GCC countries.”

According to Gulf sources that the daily did not name, the GCC countries wanted “a final and lasting solution to the repeated procrastination tactics adopted by Qatar in dealing with the Gulf requests.”

In the UAE, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said in a statement that “it is clear and obvious that those targeting the UAE are setting the Arab world on fire.”

“This narrow circle is well known and realises that the UAE has a clear approach that is disturbing for it,” he said. “I reiterate my questions: Where are the past rumours and where is the evidence that supports them? How did these rumourmongers go on to spread more and more rumours? Do they have any credibility outside their narrow circle?’ I doubt it. The painful part is when the rumour is started by a brother.”