Embargo continues after Qatar rejects demands from Arab states

World Today

Seated from left to right at table, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, and Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa meet in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, July 5, 2017. The foreign ministers from four Arab nations that have sought to isolate Qatar over its alleged support for extremist groups started talks Wednesday, hours after the quartet said they had received Qatar’s response to their demands for ending the crisis. (Khaled Elfiqi, Pool, via AP)

There’s no end in sight to the diplomatic standoff in the Persian Gulf.  Qatar has rejected the 13 demands issued by four Arab nations.  Leaders of the four countries met in Cairo and saidthey will continue working to isolate Doha.

CGTN’s Adel el Mahrouky has the details.

It was a long meeting that didn’t unravel any new measures against Qatar.  For now, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates will continue their current sanctions against Doha.

A month ago, they cut land, sea, and air transportation and severed diplomatic ties.

“There is no deviation from the important and effective measures that had to be applied in cases where there is sponsorships of states and individuals of terrorist organizations and activities,” Egypt’s Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry said.

The Egyptian foreign minister went on to say that they have passed the stage of only accusing Qatar of funding and supporting terrorism and that they now have proof to back their claims.

From Cairo they called upon the international community to join them in taking measures against Qatar.

“That is what we want to bring to the world’s attention that what we are doing is along the same lines that we have agreed on in Paris when we came to stand together against DAESH, or in Washington or in Riyadh in the last summit with President Donald Trump of the United States of America,” Khalid Al Khalifa, Bahrain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs said.  “These are the points that we’ve agreed on and we are acting on right now and we don’t want to waste a minute to allow them to continue their heinous work.”

“One of the problems we still have is the sense of tolerance, in particular Europe, of extremists under the disguise of freedom of expression,” said Adel AlJubeir, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister.  “And I believe that European countries are beginning to realize that some of these radical and extremist people, what they’re expressing is hate speech and that leads directly to violence and those policies have to reexamined.”

The foreign ministers of the four Arab countries leading this diplomatic row against Qatar said they will continue coordination.  Their next meeting will be in Bahrain’s Capital Manama, but the timing has not been announced.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain said they are sorry that Qatar responded negatively to their 13 demands. They insist that all options are still on the table but they are not ready yet to announce what their next move will be.


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