GCC could part ways with Qatar, UAE warns

DOHA GIVEN 10 DAYS TO COMPLY WITH 13-POINT LIST OF DEMANDS

The UAE yesterday warned Qatar that it faces “divorce” from other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries unless it takes a list of demands seriously.

In a series of tweets, Dr Anwar Mohammad Gargash, UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said that divorce was a strong option as Doha continues to engage in political games instead of addressing the concerns raised by its fellow GCC members — Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, apart from Egypt.

The countries have submitted a list of demands to Qatar in order to end the crisis. However, the demands have been leaked to the media, by Qatar, drawing sharp criticism.

Qatar was given 10 days to comply with all of the demands.

Gargash said Qatar had leaked the list of demands in “an attempt to abort the mediation in a childish act that we have grown accustomed to from our brother”.

“It would be wiser that [Qatar] deals seriously with the demands and concerns of the neighbours or a divorce will take place,” he said on Twitter.

Qatar faces a choice of either

stability and prosperity, or isolation, he said. “Perhaps the solution is in parting ways.”

Saudi Arabia the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt issued a 13-point list of demands on Thursday to end the crisis, insisting that their Gulf neighbour shut down Al Jazeera, cut back diplomatic ties to Iran and sever all ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.

In the list presented to Qataris by Kuwait, which is helping mediate the crisis, the countries also demanded an end to Turkey’s military presence in Qatar.

“The brother [Qatar] must realise that the solution for its crisis lies not in Tehran or Beirut or Ankara or Western capitals or in media outlets, but in regaining the trust of its neighbours,” Gargash said.

“It is not possible to accept that the brother continues as the Trojan horse” in the Gulf or as a funder and “platform for an extremist agenda”, he added.

Meanwhile, UAE Ambassador to the US said that Qatar would remain cut off from its neighbours if it refuses to consent to their list of demands.

Ambassador Yousuf Al Otaiba said the measures taken against Qatar “are there to stay until there is a long-term solution to the issue.”

Still, he suggested the actions to pressure Qatar would remain economic and diplomatic. Al Otaiba says “there is no military element to this whatsoever.”

The US has offered to help mediate. But Al Otaiba said the Kuwaitis will take the lead. He said it’s an Arab issue that requires an Arab solution.

Dr Anwar Mohammad Gargash, UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, yesterday warned that other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries could part ways with Qatar.

In a series of tweets, Gargash, the most vociferous voice speaking out on behalf of the GCC over the open crisis with Qatar, said that divorce was a strong option as Doha kept engaging in political games instead of addressing the concerns raised by its fellow GCC members Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, apart from Egypt.

The countries have reportedly submitted a list of demands to Qatar in order to end the crisis. However, the demands have been leaked to the media, reportedly by Qatar, drawing sharp criticism.

“The leak seeks to thwart mediation efforts in a teenager move that we are used to seeing in the brother,” Gargash posted. “It would have been wiser to deal seriously with the demands and concerns of the neighbours. Otherwise, a divorce is bound to happen.”

Gargash has been using the term ‘brother’ in his tweets to refer to Qatar. “The options for the brother are clear: Does he opt for his surroundings, stability and prosperity or will he choose mirage and duality and isolate himself from his surroundings? Perhaps the solution is in the separation of paths?”

‘Security at stake’

Gargash in another tweet insisted that the crisis was real, but Qatar’s behaviour and confused management of the situation were compounding the situation and could lead to Qatar being left out of the Gulf alliance set up in 1981.

The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Since its establishment, no founding members have left, or have been asked to leave the bloc.

“The security of the region is at stake. Clarity is the best option for all of us and divorce is sometimes a choice,” Gargash said. “The brother must realise that the solution to his crisis is not in Tehran, Beirut or Ankara, or in the capitals of the West

or in the media. The solution is that the neighbours resume their trust in him.”

Manama, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have been inflexible in their demands to Qatar to change its attitudes and comply with the Riyadh Declaration that it signed in 2014 and which called for ending financial and media support for extremist and terrorist groups.

“The crisis of the loss of trust in the brother is real, resulting from a trend that ranged from political adolescence to dangerous conspiracy and included systematic support for an extremist agenda and terrorist organisations,” Gargash posted.

“The role of the brother as a Trojan horse in the Gulf region, the source of funding, and the media and political platform for the agenda of extremism

cannot be accepted,” Gargash said, adding that there were conditions that Qatar needed to meet. “There is a price for the years of conspiracy, just like getting reinstated in the neighbourhood has its cost.”

Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries that have cut ties to Qatar issued a steep list of demands on Thursday to end the crisis, insisting that their Gulf neighbour shutter Al Jazeera, cut back diplomatic ties to Iran and sever all ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.

13-point list

In a 13-point 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. They have 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 from AP. But the list included conditions that the gas-rich nation had already insisted would never be met, including shutting down Al Jazeera. Qatar’s government has said it won’t negotiate until Arab nations reverse their boycott.

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 US and provide detailed information about opposition figures that Qatar has funded, ostensibly in Saudi Arabia and the other nations.

Qatar acknowledges that it allows members of some extremist groups such as Hamas to reside in Qatar.

Qatar’s neighbours have also accused it of backing Al Qaida and Daesh ideology throughout the Middle East. Those umbrella groups also appear on the list of entities whose ties with Qatar must be extinguished, along with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Al Qaida branch in Syria, once known as Al Nusra Front.

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.

Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations have accused Qatar of inappropriately close ties to Iran, a countries which they say foments sectarianism and division in Arab states.

The Iran provisions in the document say Qatar must shut down diplomatic posts in Iran, kick out of Qatar any members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard, and only conduct trade and commerce with Iran that complies with US sanctions.

Under the 2015 nuclear deal, nuclear-related sanctions on Iran were eased but other sanctions remain in place.

Cutting ties to Iran would prove incredibly difficult. Qatar shares a massive offshore natural gasfield with Iran which supplies the small nation that will host the 2022 Fifa World Cup its wealth.

Not only must Qatar shut down the Doha-based broadcaster, the list says, but also all of its affiliates. That presumably would mean Qatar would have to close down Al Jazeera’s English-language sister network.

Supported by Qatar’s government, Al Jazeera is one of the most widely watched Arabic channels, but it has long drawn the ire of Mideast governments for airing alternative viewpoints.

The network’s critics say it advances Qatar’s goals by promoting Islamist movements like the Muslim Brotherhood that pose a populist threat to rulers in other Arab countries.