US and Qatar sign antiterror deal

TOP DIPLOMAT TRIES TO HEAL RIFT Bid to disable terrorism financing flows.

Qatar and the United States signed a deal on Tuesday to combat “terrorism” as visiting US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson pursued efforts to resolve the Gulf diplomatic crisis.

In Qatar as part of a series of Gulf meetings, Tillerson also said Doha had been “reasonable” in the dispute, which has seen Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties with the emirate over accusations it supports extremism.

Tillerson is spending much of this week in the Gulf seeking to mediate in the rift among crucial US allies and was to meet foreign ministers of the four countries isolating Qatar in the Saudi city of Jeddah yesterday.

After talks with senior officials in Doha on Tuesday, Tillerson and Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman AlThani announced the deal targeting extremist financing.

“The memorandum lays out a series of steps the two countries will take over the coming months and years to interrupt and disable terror financing flows and intensify counterterrorism activities globally,” Tillerson said at a joint press conference.

It also meant Qatar was “the first to respond” to US President Donald Trump’s call at a summit in Riyadh earlier this year “to stop the funding of terrorism” – suggesting such deals could be signed with the other Arab states as a step toward ending the crisis.

Sheikh Mohammed urged “the siege countries to join us in the future” by signing on to such deals.

But Tuesday’s initiative met a dismissive reaction from the Arab countries that imposed sanctions on Qatar last month.

“This step is insufficient,” said a joint statement published by Saudi state news agency SPA. Commitments made by Qatari authorities “cannot be trusted,” the statement added. – AFP