Gulf states increase pressure on Qatar to satisfy their demands

SAUDI ARABIA and its allies pressed ahead in the Gulf diplomatic crisis yesterday by dismissing Qatar’s response to their demands as “not serious” and suggesting they may take more steps to isolate the emirate.

In a joint press conference in Cairo, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt said they would continue the blockade on Qatar that began last month but stopped short of announcing new sanctions.

“The political and economic boycott will continue until Qatar changes its policies for the better,” said Adel aljubeir, the Saudi foreign minister. Their statement dashed any lingering hopes that the Gulf crisis might be heading towards a quick negotiated end as both sides appeared to be digging in for a protracted conflict.

The foreign ministers said they would meet again in Bahrain to discuss their next move. Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-thani, Qatar’s foreign minister, said earlier in the day that the joint blockade was “a clear aggression and an insult” and declared that his country would not give in to its opponents’ demands.

The feud in the Gulf erupted in June when the four states cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and began an economic boycott, accusing it of supporting terrorism and using the al-jazeera television network to foment unrest in the Middle East. Qatar has rejected the allegations and said the blockade was really an effort by Saudi Arabia to subjugate its smaller neighbour.

Saudi Arabia and its allies gave Qatar a list of 13 demands – including shutting down al-jazeera and cutting support for the Muslim Brotherhood – and said yesterday that Qatar’s response had failed to satisfy them.

“The response the four states got was overall negative and lacked any content. We find it did not provide a basis for Qatar to retreat from its policies,” said Sameh Shoukry, the Egyptian foreign minister.