We do not trust Qatar.UAE
Gargash calls on ‘our western friends’ to establish monitoring system over Qatar’s support of terrorism
Dr Anwar Mohammad Gargash, the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said its allies in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain did not trust Qatar as he spoke in London on a visit intended to rally diplomatic support for the embargo.
“This is about behavioural change,” Gargash said. “If we get clear strategic signals that Qatar is going to change and it will stop funding violent Islamist militants that is the basis for a discussion, but we would need a monitoring system. “We do not trust them. There is zero trust, but we need a monitoring system and we need our western friends to play a role in this.”
He said the monitoring would aim to ensure Qatar was no longer funding extremism, harbouring extremists in Doha, or providing support to the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Al Qaida. Qatar denies supporting the groups. Various countries — including France, UK, Kuwait and Turkey — have been trying to act as mediators.
Gargash said “there are no specific asks right now”, adding he did not want to get into trading offers.
Gargash insisted “at higher levels in Washington there is a big understanding of what is going on”, saying Trump “had aired the views that are being articulated about Qatar behind closed doors”.
“In 2014 we tried to do things diplomatically and we failed. The emir of Qatar did not stick to his word so this time we are saying we will ostracise you. I’m worried less about escalation, and more about isolation of Qatar.
He identified 59 individuals walking free in Doha that had been identified as terrorists or financiers of terrorism, including 14 that are sanctioned by the US State Department and nine by the United Nations. Gargash said it was like entering a crime scene and finding Qatar’s fingerprints in every room.
Tensions within the Gulf have been deepened by reports in the Arab press suggesting that Qatar’s ruling family and the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had conspired in 2010 to assassinate King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, the former king of Saudi Arabia. Al Jubeir said he backed the reports and that Saudi authorities would release further details. Gargash said the reports were “a huge, huge twist and deeply disturbing”
He said Qatar was backing Jabhat Fateh Al Sham, formerly called Al Nusra Front — the Al Qaida franchise in Syria and in Libya that backs Al Qaida groups including Libyan Fighting Group, the Derna Shura Council and the Benghazi Shura Council. He said: “It is like playing a football match when you discover one of your own team is trying to score an own goal in every match you play.”
Published: 17:00 June 17, 2017
