Any resolution of crisis must address all key issues — UAE

TILLERSON’S VISIT NOT LIKELY TO RESOLVE THE DISPUTE, ABDULLAH BIN ZAYED SAYS

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met ministers from four Arab states yesterday to try to end a dispute with Qatar after the boycotting countries called a US-Qatari terrorism financing accord an inadequate response to their concerns.

Any resolution of the impasse must address all the key issues for Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, including Doha’s undermining of regional stability, a senior UAE official said ahead of the talks in Saudi Arabia.

Speaking to reporters in Slovakia’s capital Bratislava, Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said Tillerson’s visit was not likely to resolve the dispute. “I think it will ease tensions but it’s just postponing the problem, which will grow in the future.”

Tillerson met the ministers in Jeddah in pursuit of an end to the worst dispute among Gulf Arab states since the formation of the Gulf Cooperation Council in 1981.

Kuwait, which is mediating in the dispute and not boycotting Qatar, also sent an envoy. Tillerson met separately with Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz.

In Cairo, Egypt’s President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi told Arab information ministers yesterday that his country intends to continue confronting nations that support terrorism. “There are no compromises in facing countries

I think it [Tillerson’s Jeddah talks] will ease tensions but it’s just postponing the problem, which will grow in the future.”

that support terrorism and endanger the lives of innocent people,” state news agency Mena quoted Al Sissi as saying.

He also affirmed that Cairo does not interfere in the internal affairs of any other country.

Terrorism has caused great damage to the Arab nation in recent years in terms of loss of lives and economic devastation. It is necessary to tackle this phenomenon with determination and by applying a comprehensive strategy that takes all factors into consideration, he told the ministers.

Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan | UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

King Salman in talks with Tillerson at Al Salam Palace in Jeddah, yesterday. They discussed the developments in the region, especially efforts being exerted to combat terrorism and its financing.