Qatar dismisses accusations of arming Libyan Dawn forces

Qatar dismissed allegations by the Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah Al-Thanni who accused the Gulf country of arming Libyan Dawn troops.

In a statement to the Qatari News Agency, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Qatar Mohammed Bin Abdullah Al-Rumaihi condemned Al-Thanni’s statements and urged him “not to involve Qatar in the internal Libyan conflict”. He called for a comprehensive national dialogue that includes all Libyan parties.

He dismissed the accusations as “misleading” and “unfounded”, and stressed Qatar’s foreign policy principle of non-intervention.

Al-Rumaihi added that “such allegations are dangerous” and that the Libyan prime minister “should have verified his statements beforehand, particularly because he hasn’t uttered a word when his country and citizens were bombed by foreign warplanes recently. He did not even criticise foreign military intervention in his country,” in reference to the recent airstrikes on Libyan Dawn troops in Tripoli, believed to be carried out by the UAE and Egypt.

He reiterated Qatar’s interest in the security and stability of Libya, citing its “support for Libya since the 2011 revolution”.

The Libyan prime minister accused Qatar and Sudan of sending weapons to the Libyan Dawn troops and threatened to cut diplomatic ties “if they don’t stop”.

In an interview with Sky News Arabia on Sunday, Al-Thanni said that three Qatari planes and one Sudanese plane delivered weapons to Libyan Dawn forces.

In response, the Sudanese foreign ministry summoned the Libyan chargé d’affaires in Khartoum and expressed its government’s “condemnation” of Al-Thanni’s remarks.