Arab demands to Qatar are not negotiable: FM Shoukry

CAIRO – 25 July 2017: Egypt stressed to European Union representative that the Arab boycotting bloc will not negotiate their demands with Qatar, and will accept no compromises over the recent rift with the Gulf state, in a communiqué of Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry followed the meeting with the EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini on Tuesday in Brussels.

“The issue is unable to be negotiable, Qatar should accept all demands of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE, because there is no compromises when it comes to supporting terrorism,” Shoukry told reporters following the meeting, asserting that only when Qatar takes the necessary measures to counter terrorism, the crisis will come to an end.

Shoukry affirmed that Qatar harbors elements with terrorism-related ideologies, and on June 5 the Gulf States and Egypt agreed to counter terrorism funded by Qatar by boycotting the country, imposing economic sanctions and closing the airspace before Qatari airways.

Mogherini, who met with Emir of Kuwait Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah on Sunday, called on Arab countries to sit on negotiation table to solve the diplomatic rift, saying: “We in Europe consider the issue as a must for all the parties,” asserting that the EU have a common goal of combating terrorism treats in the world.

“Kuwait-backed talks should be a must to ease the tensions that eliminates counter-terrorism efforts,” Mogherini said, pointing out that the EU will keep the good relations with all the crisis parties.

The four countries have presented a list of demands to Qatar to lift the sanctions, including stop supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, lowering relations with Iran and shutting down Aljazeera channels that is used as a platform to attack other Arab regimes. All demands were met by Qatar’s rejection, amongst pressures of the U.S. to settle the crisis, according to Shoukry.