Qatar: We’re ‘willing to talk’ to resolve diplomatic crisis
Qatar is open to mediation to resolve the crisis that has seen a group of nearby countries move to isolate the emirate over claims it supports Islamist extremist groups, its Foreign Minister says.
“We are willing to sit and talk,” said Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani in an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson Tuesday.
He said the “progressive and modern” country believes in diplomacy and promoting peace in the Middle East.
“We are not a superpower here, we are not believing in solving things with confrontation,” he said.
Al-Thani insisted his country was combating terror financing and “protecting the world from potential terrorists.”
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and the Maldives said Monday that they are indefinitely severing ties with Qatar — a Persian Gulf country of 2.4 million people, mostly foreign workers.
Libya’s eastern-based government, which is not internationally recognized and has no diplomatic representation in Doha, also cut ties with Qatar.
Gulf allies have repeatedly criticized Qatar for alleged support of the Muslim Brotherhood, a nearly 100-year-old Islamist group considered a terrorist organization by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Analysts say the rift is also driven by the belief that Qatar is too closely aligned with Iran.
Rejection of Saudi statement
Al-Thani disputed a Saudi statement accusing Qatar of “embracing terrorist and sectarian groups aimed at de-stabilizing the region.”
“With all due respect, this statement is full of contradictions because it is saying that we are supporting Iran and on the other hand supporting the extremist groups in Syria, and (that) we are supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in Saudi or in Yemen and we are supporting the [Iranian-backed] Houthis from the other side. In all battlefields, there are adversaries,” he told CNN.
“About our support to the Saudi opposition or the sectarian [movements] in al-Qatif, this is totally false information. Actually the cooperation between our security and intelligence agencies between Qatar and Saudi has been serving the purpose of the national security of Saudi.”
Referring to tweets from US President Donald Trump about the diplomatic crisis Tuesday, the Foreign Minister said that during Trump’s recent visit to the region, he and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim discussed the issue “that the funding of terrorism needs to be stopped by various countries.”
He said that there have been multiple reports issued by official agencies in the US “commending our role in combating terror financing.”
Kuwait’s Emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber Al-Sabah, urged Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on Monday to calm tensions with allies and refrain from escalating the diplomatic rift among Gulf Arab states, according to the Kuwait News Agency.
On Tuesday, Al-Sabah was heading to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on a “fraternal visit” to mediate in the crisis, according to the news agency.
Scramble to get home
Qatari citizens have been told they have 14 days to leave Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE, and those countries also banned their own citizens from entering Qatar.
The last flights operated by Emirates and other major regional airlines left the capital, Doha, early Tuesday
Some scrambled to catch the last flights back home. Kholoud Alemadi, a Qatari-British actress, was distraught as she headed back to Doha from Dubai, where she had been starring in special shows for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
“I just locked my apartment and left. I just left my car,” she told CNN as waited to board her flight.
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