GCC rejects Egypt’s accusations against Qatar but still supports Al-Sisi

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) issued two statements on Thursday, Anadolu has reported. In the morning its members rejected Egyptian accusations that Qatar supports terrorism; just 12 hours later the council reiterated its support for Egypt under the leadership of President Abel Fattah Al-Sisi.

GCC Secretary-General Abdel-Latif Al-Zayani used his official Twitter account at 11:04 am Cairo time to say that he “rejects the accusations levelled by Egyptian Arab League representative Tareq Adel”, describing them as “invalid and untrue.”

The second statement was issued at 10:33 pm on the same day. Al-Zayani declared the GCC members’ support for all of Egypt’s “military measures against terrorist groups in Libya after the barbaric act committed by the Islamic State (ISIS) of killing 21 Egyptians in Libya.”

Although some media outlets claimed that the second statement basically cancels the first, Anadolu believes that the two are, in fact, unrelated.

The news agency quoted a senior Egyptian official who said that there has been much diplomatic contact between Cairo and the GCC states in the past day or so in order to contain the recent crisis. The anonymous official noted that such communication has led to a change in the GCC’s position.