LOCAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 2015 Oman mediator credentials on show in French release in Yemen

DUBAI: The release of a French hostage held in only GCC country not to have joined the Saudi-led Three years later, Muscat mediated the release Yemen with the help of Oman has once again high- coalition air war on -backed Shiite rebels in of an Iranian woman, Shahrazad Mir Gholikhan, lighted the tiny sultanate’s unique role as a discreet Yemen, although it maintains good ties with jailed by the for allegedly smuggling Gulf mediator. announced late Thursday that regional powerhouse . Oman is also arms. It has also hosted talks between US officials Isabelle Prime, who worked on a World Bank-funded the only Arab country, besides , to have a and Yemen’s Shiite Huthi rebels to find a solution project in Yemen, had been freed by her abductors good relationship with Shiite Iran. Experts say to a deadly conflict that has killed around 4,000 after nearly six months in captivity. Prime was in Oman has kept its role by staying out of the Sunni- people since March, according to UN estimates. As Oman on her way home by dawn yesterday. The Shiite divide that has scarred Middle East politics the informal talks got underway in early June, Omani foreign ministry said her release was the ever since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. news emerged that American journalist Casey result of efforts by the sultanate “in coordination Morever, most of Oman’s population adheres to Coombs, who was believed held by the Huthis in with certain Yemeni parties”. “The search was under- the Ibadi branch of Islam that pre-dates the Sunni- Yemen, had arrived in Oman. “We are grateful to taken on the instructions of Sultan Qaboos at the Shiite divide, while the rest are Sunnis. the government of Oman and personally to Sultan request of French authorities,” a ministry spokesman Qaboos for assisting with the safe passage of a US said. History of diplomacy citizen to Oman,” State Department spokeswoman In a statement announcing the release, the Oman’s discreet diplomacy has gone to work on Marie Harf said at the time. French presidency expressed “gratitude” to those many levels. In November 2014, Oman hosted Iran, Oman has contacts with both the exiled Yemeni helping to secure her freedom, namely Sultan the United States and the for government and the Houthi rebels who overran Qaboos. Prime, 30, became the latest French citizen nuclear talks. Later that month, Iran struck an much of the impoverished Arabian Peninsula abducted in Yemen to transit Oman on the way interim deal with world powers, paving the way to country. A Yemeni security official noted that dur- home, after three aid workers kidnapped by Al- the historic agreement they sealed on July 14. ing Yemen’s 1994 civil war, Oman gave refuge to Qaeda militants resurfaced in Muscat in November After the 2014 talks in Muscat, US Secretary of southern separatist leaders while keeping good 2011. Muscat has been repeatedly sought by State John Kerry thanked Oman for its “critical role ties with the government based in northern Western nations to act as a mediator in resolving in getting these talks off the ground in the first Yemen. Gulf affairs specialist Olivier Da Lage said thorny issues - from the kidnapping of Americans place”. Oman has also mediated between Tehran one of Oman’s golden rules in foreign policy is to and Europeans to the Iran nuclear deal. and Washington on prisoners, including the “never break ties” with any country or any faction. A member of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation release of three US hikers jailed on suspicion of On Thursday, Oman-one of the rare Arab countries Council, Oman has good ties with countries outside spying after they strayed across the border in to maintain ties with -hosted Foreign the wealthy bloc including Iran and Yemen. It is the 2009. Minister Walid Muallem of war-strewn Syria. —AFP

MUSCAT: A handout photo made available by the Oman News Agency (ONA) on August 6, 2015 shows Omani Foreign Minister Yussef bin Alawi bin Abdulla (R) meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem in the capital Muscat. —AFP Damascus, Muscat to ‘unite’ efforts to end Syria war EU to work with Saudi to counter extremism MUSCAT: Muscat and Damascus agreed to work together to end Syria’s brutal war, official media reported, as the Syrian foreign minis- IS must be defeated: UNSC ter Thursday made his first Gulf visit since the conflict erupted in 2011. Foreign Minister Walid Muallem met Oman’s chief diplomat Yussef BRUSSELS/NEW YORK: The EU yester- issues discussed by the EU High and condolences to the families of the bin Alawi to discuss “several regional and international topics of com- day condemned Thursday’s bombing Representative Federica Mogherini and victims of this heinous act and to the mon interest”, the official Omani news agency ONA said. They agreed of a mosque in Asir province of Saudi the Saudi foreign minister Adel Bin Government of Saudi Arabia. “that now is the time to unite the efforts to end this (Syrian) crisis”, Arabia and extended its deepest con- Ahmed Al-Jubair, during their recent according to Syria’s state news agency SANA. “The two sides agreed to dolences to the families who have lost meeting in Riyadh. Barbarism continue cooperation and coordination to achieve the shared goals of their loved ones and its sympathy to all Meanwhile, members of the UN Furthermore, the Council empha- their peoples and governments,” it said. the injured victims. Security Council stressed after the “ter- sized in their statement that such con- Syrian daily Al-Watan daily, close to the regime in Damascus, point- The suicide bomb attack resulted in rorist attack” against Saudi Arabia, that tinued acts of barbarism perpetrated ed out that Muscat had not cut diplomatic and political ties with the death of several members of the the Islamic State (IS) must be defeated by IS “do not intimidate them, but President Bashar al-Assad’s government, unlike other Arab countries in Kingdom’s emergency forces perform- and that the intolerance, violence and rather stiffen their resolve that there the Gulf. It was Muallem’s “first visit to an Arab state in nearly four ing afternoon prayers in the mosque. hatred it espouses must be stamped has to be a common effort amongst years, at the official invitation of his Omani counterpart”, the paper “The EU reiterates its commitment to out. Governments and institutions, includ- reported in announcing the visit. continue working with the Kingdom of In a statement issued late on ing those in the region most affected, Al-Watan also wrote of a possible meeting in Muscat, a traditional Saudi Arabia, together with EU Member Thursday, the UNSC condemned in the to counter IS, groups that have mediator in the region, between top diplomats from Syria, Iran and States, to strengthen common efforts strongest terms the attack claimed by pledged allegiance to IS, Ansar Al- Saudi Arabia. Iran, along with Russia, is a key backer of Assad, while in countering violent extremism in all IS at a mosque in the headquarters of Shari’a entities, and all other individu- Saudi Arabia is a prominent supporter of the opposition and rebels its forms,” an EU spokesperson for for- the Special Emergency Security Forces als, groups, undertakings and entities fighting to topple his regime. On Wednesday, Muallem was in Tehran, eign affairs told journalists. in Asir region of Saudi Arabia, resulting associated with Al-Qaeda, as the where he met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. The Syrian min- The spokesperson, speaking on con- in at least the death of 15 people and Council resolved in ister also met with Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister dition of anonymity, noted that the ter- many other injured. The 15 member Security Council resolutions 2170 and and special representative to the Middle East. —AFP rorist threat was precisely one of the body expressed their deep sympathy 2199.” —KUNA