Arabs to keep sanctions against Qatar, monitor its behavior

CAIRO - 11 July 2017: Four Arab countries said that Tuesday’s signing of an anti-terrorism funding agreement between the United States and Qatar came as a result of similar previous demands by Arabs to Doha, according to a joint statement.

In the statement, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain, referred to the MoU as “not enough” step, and that the four countries will closely monitor the seriousness of the Qatari authorities in fighting all forms of terrorism financing.

They praised efforts by the United States in combating terrorism and its financing.
The four countries ensured that procedures they took against Qatar were due to Doha’s different activities in supporting terrorism, spreading discourse of hatred and extremism, and interfering in internal affairs of other countries. The statement added that all these activities should stop completely.

It continued: “The Qatari authorities have consistently revoked all the agreements and commitments, the most recent of which was the 2013 Riyadh Agreement, which led to the withdrawal of the [Arab] ambassadors and their return only after the Qatari authorities signed the supplementary agreement in 2014, it [Doha] continued to intervene, incite, conspire and embrace terrorists, finance terrorist operations.”

The countries added that they cannot trust any commitments made by Qatar unless there are strict controls to verify its seriousness in returning to normal track.

The four Arab states concluded their statement by saying that they will continue in the measures they took against Doha “until the Qatari authorities are committed to the implementation of the demands that ensure addressing terrorism, and achieving stability and security in the region.”

The United States and Qatar signed an agreement on Tuesday aimed at combating the financing of terrorism, as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Doha to try to end a month-long rift between Western-allied Arab states.

Last month, the four states cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of financing terrorist groups.

On Monday, CNN released secret documents of Riyadh two agreements that was set by Gulf Cooperation Council states in an attempt to amend the relations with Qatar, following a series of tense situations inside the GCC.

The documents revealed the Qatari role in funding terrorism in the region, by backing groups in extremists in Yemen and harboring members of the outlawed Muslim brotherhood group, keeping ties with entities such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

Qatar breached both agreements signed in the Saudi Capital Riyadh when it continued its support for outlawed groups, by either directly funding them or sheltering their leaders and members, and sustained its interfering policies with states such as Egypt, Bahrain and Yemen.

The agreement cast a light on the Qatari violations in the region, countries such as Egypt and Yemen were mentioned for the unrest they have witnessed due to the Qatari interference and harmful policies, represented in most of times by the emirate’s owned media station “Al Jazeera”, however the latter continues its biased coverage against the Egyptian state.



Screen shots from the documents released by CNN






The agreement stipulated:

1.No interference in the internal affairs of the Council’s states, whether directly or indirectly. Not to give asylum/refuge or give nationality to any citizen of the Council states that has an activity opposes his country’s regimes, except with the approval of his country; no support to deviant groups that oppose their states; and no support for antagonistic media.

2.No support to the Muslim Brotherhood or any of the organizations, groups or individuals that threaten the security and stability of the Council states through direct security work or through political influence.

3.Not to present any support to any faction in Yemen that could pose a threat to countries neighboring Yemen.

After discussing the commitments stemming from the Riyadh Agreement signed 19/1/1435 (Hijri) – 23/11/2013 and its executive measures; reviewing the reports of the committee following the execution and the results of the joint follow-up [operation] room; and reviewing the conclusions of the report of the follow-up room signed on 10/1/1436 (Hijri) – 3/11/2014 (Gregorian) by the intelligence chiefs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdome of Bahrain and the state of Qatar.

The following has been reached:

1. Stressing that non-committing to any of the articles of the Riyadh Agreement and its executive measure amounts to a violation of the entirety of the agreement.

2. What the intelligence chiefs have reached in the aforementioned report is considered a step forward to implement (not clear because of the bad resolution, it could be SAVE) )Riyadh agreement and its executive measures, with the necessity of the full commitment to implementing everything stated in them(agreement and the Intelligence report ) within the period of one month from the date of the agreement.

3. Not to give refuge, employ, or support whether directly or indirectly, whether domestically or abroad, to any persons or a media apparatus that harbors inclinations harmful to any Gulf Cooperation Council state. Every state is committed to taking all the regulatory, legal and judicial measures against anyone who [commits] any encroachment against Gulf Cooperation Council states, including putting him on trial and announcing it in the media.

4. All countries are committed to the Gulf Cooperation Council discourse to support the Arab Republic of Egypt, and contributing to this security, stability and its financial support; and ceasing all meida activity directed against the Arab Republic of Egypt in all media platforms, whether directly or indirectly, including all the offenses broadcasted on Al-jazeera, Al-Jazeera Mubashir Masr, and to work to stop all offenses in Egyptian media.