Asmara accuses Doha of supporting armed anti-state group

CAIRO – 25 March 2018: The Eritrean government accused Qatar of being involved in supporting an anti-state armed opposition group that aims to destabilize Eritrea.

The Eritrean Information Ministry said in a statement released on Friday, that Qatar has supported the Eritrean “radical” Islamic Cleric, Mohammed Jumma, and that it funded his extremist group’s hostile activities.

The statement also claims that Qatar supplied the Sudanese army with three MiG jet in Sudan’s Kassala, to qualify the army to “face a UAE-backed Eritrean attack.”

However, Sudan denied the accusations in a statement on Sunday, saying that they represent false and unfounded claims.

On June 5, 2017, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain turned on Qatar, with a complete air and trade boycott over allegations of its support of terrorism, which Doha repeatedly denies.

The Arab Quartet issued 13 demands to Doha – later shortened to six principles – which included turning down the provocative voice of its news channel, Al-Jazeera, curbing relations with Iran, and halting its intervention in the domestic issues of the Arab nations.