- Title: Stranded camels over the hump, cross border back to Qatar
- Date: 20th June 2017
- Summary: QATARI-SAUDI BORDER, QATAR (JUNE 20, 2017) (REUTERS) CAMELS WALKING ON THE ROAD/ VEHICLE BEHIND VARIOUS OF CAMELS WALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) CAMEL OWNER, HAMAD MOHAMED BOU SALAE, SAYING: "Thankfully, our camels are well and we found most of them. Now we are relived after crossing the border. In Saudi Arabia we suffered damage. It was crowded and disorganized. Now things are good. They (Qatari authorities) supported us with food, fodder and water is available 24 hours." VARIOUS OF CAMELS EATING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) CAMEL OWNER, BRAIK AL-MURRI, SAYING: "This is against camels and against Bedouins who raise camels. It's against Bedouin living. This closure of Saudi centres in the face of Qatari camels which pasture in Saudi Arabia." MEN PREPARING WATER CONTAINER FOR CAMELS CAMEL DRINKING WATER MEN WORKING ON RAZOR WIRE FENCE CAMELS WALKING MORE OF CAMELS WALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) CAMEL OWNER, BRAIK AL-MURRI, SAYING: "We recovered some of our camels and we still have some in Saudi Arabia. The camels you see here suffered damage. Some of them are as expensive as 200 or 300 thousand (Qatari Riyals). We lost a lot. Some died on the way. They didn't even provide help (get help). They just closed the border between us and our camels and wouldn't let us cross over to the camels." MORE OF CAMELS WALKING ON ROAD
- Embargoed: 4th July 2017 14:59
- Keywords: Qatar Saudi camels border Gulf dispute Saudi Arabia
- Location: QATARI-SAUDI BORDER, QATAR
- City: QATARI-SAUDI BORDER, QATAR
- Country: Qatar
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0016M32FYF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Camels - thousands of them - are the latest ones caught in the dispute between Qatar and its neighbour Saudi Arabia.
On June 5, Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain cut ties with Qatar, over accusations that Qatar was supporting Islamists and stirring up unrest. Doha denies this.
But this meant closure of economic and travel links and the impact of the worst Gulf Arab crisis in years began to bite.
Borders were shut, and travellers between Qatar and neighbouring Saudi Arabia found themselves stranded.
Camels were not spared.
Tribesmen in Qatar whose relatives span the modern-day borders of the Arabian Peninsula say the boycott is threatening traditions dear to them including camel herding and falconry.
Hundreds of Qataris keep camels in desert areas in eastern Saudi Arabia during winter months to train and breed them for races and beauty contests - customs seen as an important link to a vanishing nomadic past. Prize camels sell in auctions for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
On Tuesday (June 20), striking an informal deal with the Saudi border guards, thousands of camels were allowed back in and reunited with their owners.
Owners, many of them nomadic Bedouins, complained that the sudden closure of borders resulted in the deaths of their camels.
Bedouins in Gulf countries share a common culture of herding camels. It is normal for Bedouins to cross borders with their camels for grazing.
The Qatari government sent a convoy of water tankers and trucks carrying grass to the border on Monday (June 19) to nourish the camels that had crossed the border.
Before the discovery of vast natural gas reserves off Qatar's coast that crowned the small Gulf peninsular country with skyscrapers, Bedouin roamed the desert and depended on meat and milk from camels to survive. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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