UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain issue joint statement on Qatar

Abu Dhabi: A joint statement has been issued by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain, which reads as follows:

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain, would like to make it clear that, based on that which is dictated by the principles of the Islamic Sharia on the need for unity and cooperation in compliance with the words of Allah: “And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided”, and “And do not dispute and [thus] lose courage and [then] your strength would depart”.

In implementation of the principles of the basic system of the Cooperation Council for the Arab Gulf States, which stipulated the realisation of Member States of common destiny and unity of goal that bind their people, and the aim of the Council to achieve coordination, cooperation and interdependence among member states in all fields, reaching to the unity, deepening and strengthening of ties and linkages and existing cooperation between their peoples in various fields.

Out of sincere desire of its leaders to exert all efforts for closer ties between the GCC countries, and according to the aspirations of the peoples to maintain what has been achieved, thanking Allah, of gains and achievements in the forefront, maintaining the security and stability of the GCC countries, which is stipulated in the security agreement signed between the GCC countries, as a collective responsibility borne by these countries, as their countries have exerted great efforts to communicate with the State of Qatar at all levels in order to agree on an approach ensuring moving within the framework of a unified policy for the GCC countries based on the principles set forth in the basic system of the Cooperation Council and in the agreements signed between them including the security agreement, and to comply with the principles that ensure non-interference in the internal affairs of any of the GCC countries, either directly or indirectly, and not to support any party that threatens the security and stability of the GCC countries whether organisations, or individuals, either through direct security work or by political influence, and not to support the hostile media.

However, these efforts have resulted in the approval of the State of Qatar through the signing of His Highness Tamim Bin Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar, on the agreement signed following a meeting held in Riyadh on 19/01/1435 Hijri corresponding to 23/11/2013 AD, in the presence of His Highness Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, Emir of Kuwait, which was signed and endorsed by all the leaders of the GCC countries, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain had hoped for the aforementioned agreement to be put in place by the State of Qatar once it was signed.

However, in light of the passage of more than three months since the signing of the agreement without the State of Qatar taking the necessary measures to put it into force, based on the approach of openness and full transparency, which the leaders of the three countries have consistently worked for in all issues related to the higher national interests of their countries, and their realisation of the gravity of what is happening throughout the region, the great challenges and variables related to fateful issues, which have a direct affect on the security and stability of the GCC countries, the responsibility entrusted in them committing their Highnesses and Excellencies the Foreign Ministers of their respective countries to clarify the serious risk of the matter to the State of Qatar and the importance of standing as one against all things aimed to destabilise and prejudice the security of their countries, in the meeting, which was held in Kuwait on 17/04/1435 Hijri corresponding to 17/02/2014 AD in the presence of His Highness Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, Emir of Kuwait and His Highness Tamim Bin Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar and GCC Ministers, during which they agreed that GCC Foreign Ministers would develop a mechanism to monitor the implementation of the Riyadh agreement.

This was followed by a meeting of GCC Foreign Ministers in Riyadh on 03/05/1435 Hijri corresponding to 04/03/2014 AD, during which attempts were made to convince the State of Qatar of the great importance of taking the necessary measures to put the Riyadh agreement into effect and agree on a mechanism to monitor its implementation.

However, all these efforts unfortunately did not result in the approval of the State of Qatar to adhere to these procedures, which forced the three countries to start taking measures it deems as appropriate to protect its security and stability by withdrawing their ambassadors from Qatar, as of this day, 04/05/1435 Hijri, corresponding to 05/03/2014 AD.

The three countries confirmed their commitment to the interests of all the peoples of the GCC countries, including the brotherly people of Qatar who are considered an integral part of the rest of the peoples of the GCC countries, and hope that the State of Qatar will expedite taking the immediate steps to respond to that which had been agreed upon previously and to protect the march of the GCC states from any cracks, as upon this, their people hold high hopes.