Qatar refuses to budge, boycott to stay

Cairo : Saudi-led states that have cut ties with Qatar vowed yesterday to maintain their boycott of the emirate, criticising its “negative” response to their list of demands to end the diplomatic crisis.

Though Qatar refused to budge, it appealed for “dialogue” to resolve the row while US President Donald Trump spoke to Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to urge all parties “to negotiate constructively”.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE meeting in Cairo, “regret the negative response from Qatar,” they said in a statement. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said Qatar’s response to the bloc’s conditions had “no substance” and “reflects a lack of understanding of the gravity of the situation”.

The talks in Cairo came a month after the four countries severed ties with Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting extremism. “The boycott will remain,” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said at the same news conference in the Egyptian capital.

The four Arab states stopped short of announcing new sanctions but Jubeir said they would “take steps at the appropriate time”. Saudi and its allies have not said what steps they could take next, but there are fears of a wider embargo that would hurt the Qatari economy, with ratings agency Moody’s announcing it was changing Qatar’s outlook to negative over the crisis.               

Rules Qatar must abide

At the end of the meeting held in Cairo yesterday the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain issued a joint statement clearly stating their position to halt Qatar’s support for extremism and terrorism and interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries.  The position is based on the importance of abiding by the international conventions, charters, resolutions and principles established in the charters of the United Nations, the League of Arab States, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the conventions against international terrorism, with an emphasis on the following principles: 

1  Commitment to combat extremism and terrorism in all their forms and to prevent their financing or providing safe havens.

2. Suspending all acts of provocation and speeches inciting to hatred or violence.

3. Full compliance with the Riyadh Agreement of 2013 and the supplementary agreement and its implementation mechanisms of 2014 within the framework of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

4. Adherence to all the outcomes of the Arab Islamic American Summit held in May 2017 in Riyadh.

5. Refraining from interfering in the internal affairs of states and from supporting illegal entities.

6. The responsibility of all states of the international community to confront all forms of extremism and terrorism as a threat to international peace and security.