Egypt rejects Qatari offer to mediate with Brotherhood

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry has rejected an offer by Qatar to mediate between Cairo and the Muslim Brotherhood, which the Egyptian authorities designated a “terrorist organisation” in late 2013.

On Thursday, Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid al-Atiyah said Doha did not consider the Brotherhood a “terrorist” group, adding that his country was ready to mediate between the embattled Islamist group and the Egyptian regime.

Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid responded to the offer by describing al-Attiyah’s statements as “unacceptable”.

“There is no room for negotiations or foreign mediation with the Brotherhood,” Abu Zeid said in a Saturday statement, going on to describe the movement as a “terrorist” organization.

Relations between Cairo and Doha have remained tense since Egypt’s military ousted and imprisoned Mohamed Morsi – the country’s first freely elected president and a Brotherhood leader – in mid-2013.

During Morsi’s single year in office, Qatar had been a staunch supporter of his administration, and was later a vocal critic of his ouster.

In late 2013, the Egyptian government designated the Brotherhood, Egypt’s oldest Islamist movement, a “terrorist organisation”.

In the more than two years since Morsi’s overthrow, the Egyptian authorities have waged a relentless crackdown on political dissent that has primarily targeted the ousted president’s supporters and members of his Muslim Brotherhood.

Hundreds have been killed in the crackdown and tens of thousands thrown behind bars.