'Qatar motivated by false concerns'

Dubai: An Egyptian former ambassador has called for an active US and European participation in monitoring Qatar’s compliance with any agreement it reaches with the Quartet combatting the funding of terrorism.

“Non-commitment to pledges has become official policy in Doha,” Mohammad Al Munaisi the Egyptian ambassador to Qatar from 1995 until 1998, said. “Because of the lack of confidence in Qatar's respect for its pledges, it is imperative for the four countries that are fighting terrorism to ensure an effective way to monitor Qatar's commitment to stop providing money or equipment to terrorist groups. It is preferable that European countries and the US participate in in this monitoring,” he said in remarks published by Saudi daily Okaz on Sunday.

The ex-envoy said that he was struck during his tenure in the Gulf country by the “false concerns that fed Qatar’s hostile attitudes towards its neighbours following the toppling of the former Emir Shaikh Khalifa by his son Shaikh Hamad.”

“When I learned about the plan by the former Prime Minister Shaikh Hamad Bin Jassem Al Thani to coordinate with the US administration to build a military base in Al Udaid, I asked him about the reasons, particularly that Qatar had good ties with Iran. He answered that the US military presence would be to protect Qatar from Saudi Arabia and not from Iran.”

Al Munaisi added that he had witnesses in “dozens of cases in Doha that supported terrorism.”

“Qatar hosted dozens of terrorists from several Arab countries at the farm of the former interior minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Khalid Al Thani in the north of the country,” he said.

Shaikh Abdullah is on the list of 59 terror-linked individuals issued in June by Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

The four countries severed their diplomatic and trade relations with Qatar on June 5 over its funding of terrorism and support for terrorists.

The four countries made a list of demands and expected Qatar to comply with them.