France Calls for End to Qatar Blockade

France’s foreign minister on Saturday called on Qatar’s neighbors to immediately lift measures impacting thousands of people in the Persian Gulf, becoming the latest foreign diplomat to visit the region and attempt to find a resolution to a crisis that has dragged on for more than a month.

In early June, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties with Qatar and moved to isolate the small, but wealthy Persian Gulf nation, canceling air routes between their capitals and Qatar’s and closing their airspace to Qatari flights. Saudi Arabia also sealed Qatar’s only land border, impacting a key source of food imports in the mostly desert nation, AP reported.

France Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said such punitive measures should end.