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Tuesday March 19, 2024

Gulf states warn Qatar to accept 13 demands

By our correspondents
June 24, 2017

DUBAI: Four Arab states that imposed a boycott on Qatar have issued an ultimatum to Doha to close Al Jazeera television, curb ties with Iran, shut a Turkish base and pay reparations, demands so far reaching it would appear to be hard for Doha to comply with.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have sent a 13-point list of demands apparently aimed at dismantling their tiny but wealthy neighbour´s two decade-old interventionist foreign policy which has incensed them.

Qatar did not immediately comment, but Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani had said on Monday Qatar would not negotiate with the four states until economic, diplomatic and travel ties cut this month were restored.

The countries that imposed the sanctions accuse Qatar of funding terrorism, fomenting regional unrest and drawing too close to their enemy Iran. Qatar rejects those accusations and says it is being punished for straying from its neighbours´ backing for authoritarian hereditary and military rulers.

The uncomprimising demands leave little prospect for a quick end to the biggest diplomatic crisis for years between Sunni Arab Gulf states, regional analysts said.

“The demands are so aggressive that it makes it close to impossible to currently see a resolution of that conflict,” Olivier Jakob, a strategist at Switzerland-based oil consultancy Petromatrix, said.

Ibrahim Fraihat, Conflict Resolution Professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, forecast a prolonged stand-off.

Qatar would reject the demands as a “non-starter”, he said, and its neighbours had already escalated as far as they were likely to go.

“Military action remains unlikely at the moment so the outcome after the deadline would be a political stalemate.

“Washington, which is a close military ally of countries on both sides of the dispute, had called for a resolution: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Qatar´s neighbours should make their demands “reasonable and actionable”.

An official from one of the four nations, who gave details of the demands on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the offer would be “void” unless Qatar complied within 10 days.

The UAE has said sanctions could last for years. Qatar, the world´s richest country per capita, says the sanctions amount to a “blockade”, but it has ample reserves to weather the storm.

The dispute is a big test for the United States, which houses the headquarters of its Middle East air power and 11,000 troops at a large base in Qatar.

President Donald Trump has backed the sanctions, even as his Defense and State Departments have tried to remain neutral, resulting in mixed signals.

Trump called Qatar a “funder of terrorism at a very high level”, only for his Pentagon to approve selling it $12 billion of warplanes five days later.

The most powerful country in the region to back the Qatari side in the dispute has been Turkey, whose President Tayyip Erdogan has his roots in an Islamist political party similar to movements that Qatar has backed in the region.

Days after the sanctions were imposed, Turkey rushed through legislation to send more troops to its base in Qatar as a sign of support.

Defence Minister Fikri Isik rejected the demand to close the base, saying it would represent interference in Ankara´s relations with Doha.

Turkey might bolster its presence instead.

“Strengthening the Turkish base would be a positive step in terms of the Gulf´s security,” he said.

“Re-evaluating the base agreement with Qatar is not on our agenda.”

Qatar´s state-funded satellite broadcaster Al Jazeera became hugely popular across the Middle East, but has long infuriated Arab governments used to exercising firm control over the media in their countries.

Jazeera hit back at the closure order, calling it “nothing but an attempt to silence the freedom of expression in the region”.

The demands, handed to Qatar by mediator Kuwait, tell Qatar to stop interfering in the four nations´ domestic and foreign affairs and refrain from giving Qatari nationality to their citizens, the official from one of the sanctioning states said.

They also include severing ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic State, al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and Jabhat Fateh al Sham, formerly al-Qaeda´s branch in Syria, and the surrender of all designated terrorists on Qatari territory.

Qatar denies it has relationships with terrorist groups or shelters terrorists.

It was ordered to scale down diplomatic relations with Iran, limit its commercial ties and expel members of Iran´s Revolutionary Guards. Qatar denies they are there. The sanctioning countries demanded Qatar pay them reparations for any damage or costs incurred due to Qatari policies. Compliance with the demands would be monitored, with monthly reports in the first year, then every three months the next year, then annually for 10 years, the official said.