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THE UNITED ARAB Emirates warned Qatar Friday that it faces “divorce” from its Gulf neighbours unless it takes their demands seriously, as the United Nations offered to help resolve the regional diplomatic crisis.
The list of demands includes the closure of Al-Jazeera television, a long-standing source of conflict between Doha and neighbouring countries which accuse it of fomenting regional strife.
The Qatar-based broadcaster denounced the move as an attack on media freedom.
Anwar Gargash, the UAE’s state minister for foreign affairs, issued the warning more than two weeks into the oil-rich region’s worst diplomatic crisis in years.
“It would be wiser that (Qatar) deal seriously with the demands and concerns of the neighbours or a divorce will take place,” he wrote on Twitter.
The demands confirm that “the crisis is profound,” Gargash added.
The affair has also drawn in the United States, whose Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has called for Gulf unity.
UN spokeswoman Eri Kaneko said the world body continued “to follow the situation with deep concern”.
“We hope that the countries involved resolve the situation through dialogue,” she said.
We are ready to assist if requested by the parties.
Qatar is the world’s leading exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and hosts the biggest American airbase in the Middle East.
Gargash accused Qatar of leaking a document containing the demands by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, which have cut diplomatic ties and accused Qatar of sponsoring terrorism.
Qatar strongly denies such charges.
‘Attempt to silence’
The demands have not been officially unveiled but Doha-based Al-Jazeera news channel said overnight Thursday they were handed to Qatar by Kuwait, which is mediating the dispute.
According to the document posted on social media, the four countries demand that Qatar closes Al-Jazeera, downgrades diplomatic ties with Iran and shuts a Turkish military base in the emirate.
Al-Jazeera, one of the largest news organisations in the world, said that it “deplores” calls for it to be taken off air.
“We in the network believe that any call for closing down Al-Jazeera is nothing but an attempt to silence the freedom of expression in the region and to suppress people’s right to information,” the broadcaster said in a statement.
Al-Jazeera English’s managing director, Giles Trendle, said it was like “Germany demanding Britain to close down the BBC”, in a video posted on social media.
Qatar is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
On 5 June, Saudi Arabia and the UAE led a severing of all links with Qatar for allegedly supporting groups, including some backed by Iran, “that aim to destabilise the region”.
Other allies, including Egypt and Bahrain, followed. Saudi Arabia regularly accuses Iran, its regional rival, of interference throughout the Middle East.
US ‘mystified’
As well as cutting diplomatic ties, Qatar’s neighbours closed their air space to Qatari carriers and blocked the emirate’s only land border, vital for its food imports.
The list of 13 demands circulating on social media also says Qatar must cut ties to groups including the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic State organisation, Al-Qaeda and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.
Qatar is also required to hand over opposition figures wanted by its three neighbours and Egypt.
In addition to Al-Jazeera, it must shut online information sites that it supports, according to the reported demands.
Although there has yet to be an official reaction to the list from the Doha government, Qatar’s Human Rights Committee said the demands represented “gross violations” of basic rights.
In Qatar, the hashtag “the list is rejected” trended in Arabic on social media.
Gargash though urged Qatar to cede to the demands:
“The brother (Qatar) must realise that the solution for its crisis lies not in Tehran or Beirut or Ankara or Western capitals or in media outlets, but in regaining the trust of its neighbours,” he said.
Tillerson said on Wednesday that Washington had been pushing for a clear list of grievances that are “reasonable and actionable”.
“Our role has been to encourage the parties to get their issues on the table, clearly articulated, so that those issues can be addressed and some resolution process can get underway to bring this to a conclusion,” he said.
His spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Tuesday the United States was “mystified” that Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies had failed to present details justifying their embargo on Qatar.
US President Donald Trump, however, has made statements siding with Saudi Arabia in the crisis.
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Looks like it will be a Qatar solo so.
The World Cup should be a bit of crack in Doha
@Jayo Breathneach:
I can’t see it happening, maybe Ireland should make a back door pitch to host it. If Leo sorted out that then all would forgiven and he would landslide the next election :)
@Nick Allen, like yea a bunch of overpaid fit lads kicking a bit of a dead pigskin around a field will make Ireland better lol
@Colette Kearns:
It’s kinda gone past the pigskin days and has become a very very rich industry. Hosting a WC could be worth a few quid to us
@Nick Allen: WC Semi-final in Dalymount Park
I find Al-Jazeera totally biased towards the notorious Halawa family as these journalists don’t seem to be asking hard questions like why the Halawa family support the Muslim Brotherhood and how did these 3 sisters skipped bail to escape here.
Here’s an example: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/03/hunger-strike-deteriorating-ibrahim-halawa-health-170301145810198.html
@John Flanagan: why shouldn’t they support the MB over a decades long military dictatorship that murdered hundreds of thousands, destroyed the economy and civil society and sold virtually the entire natural gas supply to Israel for a 6th of the market price?
@Paul Devlin: I don’t know whether you’re being naive or ignorant on the Muslim Brotherhood’s history and what it stands for.
@Paul Devlin: Muslim brotherhood have a campaign of clearing Egypt of its Christian population….They have burned many churches in lower Egypt and killed thousands of Christians.or driven them out……If they ran Egypt they would turn it into an Islamic state….Isreal have natural gas fields but nowhere near Egypt….
@Paul Devlin:
Please tell me you’re trolling, and not that naive…
@Avina Laaf: even I hope he’s just trolling!!!!
@John Flanagan: Paul Devlin is probably just willfully blind.
The World will be watching to see if Dublin City Council will hoist the Qatari Flag.
Maybe ireland should close mosques that surport muslim brotherhood
This won’t end well. Qatar can’t align too closely to the GCC because of the links with Iran over the natural gas (largest supply on the planet). Iran fundamentally is opposed to and rejects a monarchy and insists on a theocracy where they have a kind of democracy which takes it guidance from the supreme spiritual leader. So the world want the gas. Qatar wants to be part of GCC and the western world but must keep aligned with Iran. There is no win win here.
So this all started cause Qatar paid a random. Now they are being held to ransom again.. oh the satire
@Peter Cavey:
The ransoms that Qatar pay are apparently not real ransoms. The kidnappings are prearranged to provide a mechanism for Qatar to fund organisations which Iran supports.
Qatar don’t cede to their demands. It would be the first of many.
Yes get rid of Al-Jazeera, Russia today, press TV, alt right media, independent media. The mockingbird media has served us all well in the past and kept us up to date on everything. We can trust them, why would they lie. We need Reuters, AFP, BBC, CNN, FOX to give us our daily news. I’m not normally into monopolies but when it comes to the news I obey and respect these ancient bastions of truth.
@Nigel Sinnott: The internet is a powerful tool, you should make more use of it. There is no truth.
@Revolting Peasant: there obviously is truth, it’s up to you an an individual to spot it.
@Nigel Sinnott:
Many western media outlets need to be treated with a degree of caution, but you’re a moron if you think you’re getting anything other than state-sponsored propaganda from Press TV and Russia Today.
Saudi Arabia’s blockade of Qatar is a distraction as it shores up its monarchy and attempts to shift away from reliance on oil exports. It’s a smoke and mirrors game about protecting the house of Saud.
This has nothing to do with the 100bn arms deal the Saudis and the US did !!!!
There’s a puppet master located far away from the gulf
@brian magee:
The US just did a multi-billion dollar arms deal with Qatar too.
@Avina Laaf: 12 billion fighter jet deal.
Whats the story with the football then
Some neck on Saudi Arabia accusing Qatar of dodgy sh*t.
Saudis are so stupid that they think everyone else is also stupid who would agree to these non sense demands. Jog on bro! #Long Live Qatar
Qatar were big part in destruction of Libya and sending thousands of refugees into Italy…Qatar fund Muslim brotherhood who want to.ethnicslly cleanse Egypt of Christians…Thay also fund HAMAS who want to destroy Isreal….They fund IS and the Sunni jahadis in the destruction of Syria….
both countries support terrorism
@John003: They fund an organisation attempting to reclaim rightful Palestinian land? Sounds like a noble cause.
@Rochelle: whether you believe in the cause or not,the method cannot be supported.
@John003: Of course you have proof of this? because your comment shows a distinct lack of knowledge of the history of the middle east. Jog on….
What a joke of a country we live in. Who supports out golf only the UEA
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