Extremism, region destabilization behind Qatari crisis: UAE

CAIRO – 12 July 2017: Emirati Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Mohammed Qarqash said Wednesday that reasons behind the Qatari crisis are the lack of culture, extremism and destabilizing the region, ON Live satellite channel announced Tuesday.

In an earlier interview with Sky News, Qarqash said Qatar's policy has been disastrous for the region since 1995 with supporting extremism and terror at the core of its policy.

The UAE minister said “temporary solutions did not pay off, and diplomacy should address Qatar's support for extremism and terrorism.

He concluded that the facts regarding Qatar’s support for terrorism for decades are compelling and that any mediation or diplomatic effort would not succeed without “rationality, maturity and realism” on the part of Doha.

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.

The four Arab powers cut ties with the tiny Gulf state on June 5 for terrorism financing accusations.

According to the agreement, Qatar is committed to track down and disable terrorism financing, however, the four Arab countries said that signing such an agreement is “not enough”.

The countries further added that they cannot trust any commitments made by Qatar, unless strict and serious controls to corroborate Doha’s seriousness exist.