AMMAN, Oct 3: Jordan recalled its ambassador in Doha on Tuesday in a show of displeasure at Qatar’s failure to support the kingdom’s own candidate to succeed UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, officials said.
They said Qatar’s backing of South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon instead of Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein at an informal Security Council poll broke an Arab accord to support Jordan’s widely respected envoy, the only Muslim in the race.
But Qatar defended its decision not to back the Jordanian candidate and blamed an unspecified party of trying to drive a wedge between Amman and Doha.
“We informed them (Jordan) in front of all Arabs ... that we will support the Thai or the (South) Korean candidate,” Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani told the Doha-based Al Jazeera television from Cairo.—Reuters
