The UAE and Qatar reopen embassies as Gulf Arab relations improve after rift

The United Arab Emirates and Qatar announced the reopening of their embassies on Monday following a yearslong rift.
The two countries issued statements saying the Qatari Embassy in Abu Dhabi and a Qatari Consulate in Dubai, as well as an Emirati Embassy in Qatar’s capital, Doha, had resumed operations. The statements did not say if ambassadors were in place or if the missions were open to the public.
The two countries’ foreign ministers spoke by phone to congratulate one another on the reopening of the diplomatic missions, Qatar said.
The UAE joined Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt in imposing a boycott and blockade of Qatar in 2017, in large part over its engagement with and support of Islamist groups across the Middle East that gained power immediately after the Arab Spring protests in 2011. The other Arab countries in the Persian Gulf view such groups as terrorists – including Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, which won free and fair elections but was ousted after a year’s divisive rule.