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Boycotting countries find no solution to Qatar crisis

July 5, 2017 at 8:21 pm

Officials from Egypt, Saudi, Bahrain, UAE discuss their blockade of Qatar [Anadolu Agency]

A meeting held in Cairo today between the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt has not resulted in reconciliation with Qatar.

In a joint statement that was read out by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, the four countries expressed their gratitude to Kuwait for its efforts to mediate between the parties but did not announce that any progress had been made.

The quartet will hold their next meeting in the Bahraini capital, Manama, according to the statement.Following the meeting, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said at a press conference that the four countries’ political and economic boycott of Qatar will continue.

Read: Gulf considering more action against Qatar

“We will take the next steps based on consultation” among the four countries, he added, accusing Iran of being “the number one state in sponsoring terrorism and violating international law.”

His Bahraini counterpart, Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, said that the Muslim Brotherhood group has harmed Arab states, and therefore “we consider it a terrorist group”.

“Today’s meeting is for coordination, and our decisions will not be hasty, but will be clear and deliberate,” he added.The crisis started on 5 June when Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Qatar accusing it of “supporting terrorism”. Qatar has repeatedly denied the accusation.

On 22 June, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain presented a list of 13 demands for Qatar through Kuwait insisting that Qatar should meet the demands or risk further action.