10 days to comply
Country given 10 days to comply with requirements
Qatar given list of 13 demands to end crisis.
wAsHINGToN: Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries that have cut ties to Qatar issued a steep list of demands to end the crisis, insisting that their Persian Gulf neighbour shutter AlJazeera, cut back diplomatic ties to Iran and sever all ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.
In a 13point list – presented to the Qataris by Kuwait, which is helping mediate the crisis – the countries also demand an end to Turkey’s military presence in Qatar.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the list in Arabic from one of the countries involved in the dispute.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain broke ties with Qatar this month over allegations the Persian Gulf country funds terrorism – an accusation that President Donald Trump has echoed. Those countries have now given Qatar 10 days to comply with all of the demands, which include paying an unspecified sum in compensation.
Qatari officials in Doha did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But the list included conditions that the gasrich nation had already insisted would never be met, including shutting down AlJazeera. Qatar’s government has said it won’t negotiate until Arab nations lift their blockade.
The demands were also likely to elicit Qatari objections that its neighbours are trying to dictate its sovereign affairs by imposing such farreaching requirements.
Only a day earlier, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had warned the demands must be “reasona ble and actionable”. The United States issued that litmus test amid frustration at how long it was taking Saudi Arabia and others to formalise a list of demands, complicating US efforts to bring about a resolution to the worst Gulf diplomatic crisis in years.
According to the list, Qatar must refuse to naturalise citizens from the four countries and expel those currently in Qatar, in what the countries describe as an effort to keep Qatar from meddling in their internal affairs.
They are also demanding that Qatar hand over all individuals who are wanted by those four countries for terrorism; stop funding any extremist entities that are designated as terrorist groups by the United States and provide detailed information about opposition figures that Qatar has funded, ostensibly in Saudi Arabia and the other nations.
Qatar vehemently denies funding or supporting extremism. But the country acknowledges that it allows members of some extremist groups such as Hamas to reside in Qatar, arguing that fostering dialogue with those groups is key to resolving global conflicts.
Qatar’s neighbours have also accused it of backing alQaeda and the Islamic State group’s ideology throughout the Middle East.
More broadly, the list demands that Qatar align itself politically, economically and otherwise with the Gulf Cooperation Council, a regional club that has focused on countering the influence of Iran.