QATAR: The Emir of Qatar, Hamad Ben Khalifa al-Thani, could be the only head of state attending today's six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council summit convening in Doha, the emirate's capital.
The effective ruler of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, who has taken part in all council summits since 1997, is boycotting the event.
The major power in the area, the kingdom will be represented by its Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal.
Bahrain's king, Sheikh Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa, also announced that he would stay away from the summit but would send his Foreign Minister, Mr Muhamman bin Mubarak al-Khalifa.
Yesterday, sources in Muscat said the participation of Oman's ruler, Sultan Qabbous, could be in doubt.
Oman and Saudi Arabia were continuing negotiations over representation, which the Saudis clearly seek to keep at foreign ministerial level.
The Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Jaber al-Sabah, and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, are both too frail to travel, as is King Fahd of Saudi Arabia who in 1996 delegated his powers to his half-brother, the crown prince.
Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have been angered by Qatar's refusal to restrain the popular Qatari al-Jazeera pan-Arab satellite television channel which has aired programmes they consider offensive.
In November, the Bahraini Information Minister, Mr Nabil al-Hamar, denounced al-Jazeera as being "diabolical" and in the pay of Israel, while Kuwait closed al-Jazeera's local office.
While al-Jazeera broadcasts material which is critical of the Arabs for their failure to meet the Palestinian and Iraqi challenges, Qatar has refused to sever relations with Israel and has provided military facilities to the US, which Saudi Arabia refused to grant.
Qatar has permitted Washington to build up the al-Udaid airbase into a command centre and to turn the al-Sayliyah camp into a regional headquarters for the central command in the event of a US military campaign against Iraq.
Saudi Arabia and other Arabs feel compromised by Qatar. At their summit in March, Riyadh persuaded Arab rulers to declare that an attack against any Arab country would be viewed as an attack on all.
Arab commentators argue that if the Arabs as a body refused to provide facilities to the US military, the Bush administration would be compelled to seriously reconsider its belligerency towards Baghdad.
The Doha meeting is due to discuss the Iraqi crisis, the plight of the Palestinians and the customs union which the council is to launch on January 1st.
The summit is expected to gloss over the differences between Saudi Arabia and Qatar and focus on economic achievements.
The attitude adopted by Qatar on the regional threats posed by a US war on Iraq and the ongoing conflict in Palestine have also alienated fellow council members.
The council meanwhile has urged Iraq to work with the United Nations and spare the region from war after Washington said Baghdad was in "material breach" of a UN resolution.
Abdul-Rahman al- Attiyah, the secretary general of the council, said the Iraqi crisis would be discussed in Doha today.
Asked if a war was still avoidable, Prince Saud said: "I thought that was a last resort." He was speaking after attending a closed meeting of senior Gulf officials to prepare for the summit.
The six states agreed at a summit last year to bring forward the customs union from 2005, lowering tariffs on foreign imports to 5 per cent from the present 4-15 per cent, to pave the way for a long-sought trade deal with the EU, the council's biggest trading partner.
A main dispute is over a 6 per cent EU duty on primary aluminium exports. The region produces more than a million tonnes a year, about 5 per cent of the world's total.
On Thursday, a regional expert said finance ministers had agreed to continue to charge duty on goods imported for a "limited period", an apparent reference to re-exported goods.