UAE demands guarantees before mending Qatar ties

The United Arab Emirates said on Tuesday that Qatar would need to provide a “guaranteed roadmap” before it would consider mending ties.

Along with neighbouring Saudi Arabia and its closest allies, the UAE severed relations with Qatar on Monday, suspending all flights and giving Qataris 14 days to leave in the biggest diplomatic crisis to hit the region in years. “We need a guaranteed roadmap to rebuild confidence after our covenants were broken,” UAE state minister for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash said on Twitter.

Gargash accused Doha of turning to “money and media and partisanship and extremism” in a series of tweets early Tuesday.

Qatar has denied the allegations.

Bahrain, Egypt, Yemen and the Maldives were also among the governments that severed ties. A longtime ally of the United States, Qatar has been viewed with lingering suspicion by Washington and its Gulf neighbours over its close relations with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. It hosts the largest US airbase in the region, which is crucial in the fight against Islamic State group jihadists. It is also set to host the 2022 football World Cup.

The rift among Washington’s Gulf allies comes less than a month after US President Donald Trump visited Saudi Arabia and called for a united Muslim front against extremism.

It follows weeks of rising tensions between Doha and its neighbours, including Qatari accusations of a concerted media campaign against the emirate and the alleged hacking of its official news agency.