Dubai: UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Shaikh Abdallah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has said the four Arab countries are yet to receive Qatar’s response to a list of demands handed over to Doha to act on to end the Qatari crisis.
Speaking during a joint press conference with his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, Shaikh Abdullah declined to say what action the countries may take against Qatar, if it doesn’t respond positively. However, his comments suggest the readiness of the four countries to take further action against Qatar.
“We are still waiting for the response from our brothers in Kuwait regarding the paper they received from Qatar,” Shaikh Abdullah said.
“Once we examine it among ourselves, we will take the decision. ... We will not do it through the media, but through a Kuwaiti mediator or our own direct contacts with His Highness [Shaikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani],” he added, referring to the Qatari emir.
“To defeat terrorism, we must confront extremism, we must confront hate speech, we must confront the harbouring and sheltering of extremists and terrorists, and funding them,” Shaikh Abdullah said. “Unfortunately, we in this region see that our sister nation of Qatar has allowed and harboured and encouraged all of this.”
“Enough is enough,” he added.
The four Arab countries, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties with Qatar early last June over its support for extremist groups and ties with Iran.
The four countries cut off diplomatic ties with Doha, restricted its access to their airspace and ports while closing its only land border, with Saudi Arabia. Later, they issued a 13-point list of demands on June 22, giving Qatar 10 days to comply.
After the deadline expired early on Monday, the countries said they would give Qatar another 48 hours. The extension came at the request of the Kuwait’s Emir, Shaikh Sabah Al Sabah, who has been trying to mediate on the issue. Kuwait leadership sent a letter to the Qatari emir but the official Kuwaiti news agency didn’t disclose more details of the letter.
on Monday, the Qatar’s Foreign Minister, Shaikh Mohammad Bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, travelled to Kuwait City carrying a handwritten note from the Qatar’s Emir, Shaikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, according to the news agency.
Kuwaiti and Qatari officials did not respond to questions about what the letter said.
The foreign ministers of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt are scheduled to hold a meeting in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss the future of the crisis with Qatar.
UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Anwar Mohammad Gargash reiterated his warning that Doha would face divorce if the matter is not resolved.
“We are at a crucial historic crossroads that has nothing to do with sovereignty and with a common approach and common commitments at its core,” Gargash said on his Twitter account.
“The choices are either we take care of the common features and we refrain from undermining or destroying them or we go our separate ways,” he posted to his 410,000 followers on Twitter.
