Belgium ready to mediate in Qatar crisis with Arab states

CAIRO - 3 September 2017: The Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani met on Sunday with his Belgian counterpart Didier Reynders in Brussels to discuss the regional diplomatic row.

The Belgian Foreign Minister expressed his country’s willingness to help organize dialogue between the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Qatar to reach a settlement, Russian Sputnik reported on Sunday.

Earlier in July, the Russian Foreign Minister stated that his country is ready to help mediate in the dispute between Qatar and Arab states if approached.

Since June 5, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have turned on Qatar with a complete air and trade boycott over allegations of its support and sponsorship of terrorism, which Doha denies.

Following the Arab boycott of Doha, a list of 13-demands was handed to Doha’s government by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain for reconciliation, which includes the closing of Al-Jazeera broadcasting and the suspension of its relationship with the extremist government of Iran.

Since then, Qatar has resisted conciliation attempts and has not shown any efforts of disassociating itself from the terrorist groups that the quartet claims are harbored and financially supported by Doha.