Saudi Arabia’s U.N. Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi
On Wednesday, the Saudi-led bloc dropped its list of 13 demands to Qatar after Saudi Arabia, the UAE and their allies had failed to push the tiny gulf state to accept the demands via diplomatic and economic measures and didn’t find the political will to intervene the country despite the agressive rhetorics that followed the whole diplomatic crisis.
The list of 13 demands was introduced to Qatar in June. It included shutting down the Al Jazeera news network, closing a Turkish military base, cutting ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and droppign cooperation with Iran. At the same time, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain broke diplomatic relations with Qatar and imposed an economic blockade on the country. However, Doha, supported by Turkey and Iran, refused to follow the demands of the Saudi-led bloc.
So now, Saudi Arabia and its counterparts seek to push Doha to accept some ‘six broad principles’. This is a big PR victory for Qatar. However, the diplomatic crisis is still far from its end.
The Associated Press (SOURCE):
Saudi Arabia’s U.N. Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi told a briefing for a group of U.N. correspondents that the four nations are now committed to the six principles agreed to by their foreign ministers at a meeting in Cairo on July 5, and hope Qatar will support them as well.
The principles include commitments to combat extremism and terrorism, prevent financing and safe havens for such groups, and suspend all acts of provocation and speeches inciting hatred or violence.
Al-Mouallimi said the four-nation quartet thinks it “should be easy for the Qataris to accept” the six principles. He stressed that implementation and monitoring must be “essential components,” and “there will be no compromise when it comes to principles.”
But he said both sides can talk about details of “the tactics” and “the tools” to implement them — “and that’s where we can have discussion and compromise.”
The Saudi ambassador explained that the initial 13 points included some principles and some tools to achieve compliance.
Mixed in the 13 points were what Western nations might see as fair demands, such as cracking down on support for extremists and curbing ties with Iran, and tougher-to-swallow calls to shut down the Al-Jazeera television network — one of Qatar’s best-known brands — and kick out troops from NATO member Turkey, which has a base in Qatar.
Al-Mouallimi stressed that stopping incitement to violence is essential, but he said closing Al-Jazeera might not be necessary.
“If the only way to achieve that is by closing down Al-Jazeera, fine,” he said. “If we can achieve that without closing down Al-Jazeera, that’s also fine. The important thing is the objective and the principle involved.”
UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation Reem Al Hashimy said all the countries involved have strong relations with the United States “and we believe that the Americans have a very constructive and a very important role to play in hopefully creating a peaceful resolution to this current crisis.”
