Qatar receives list of demands from neighbours to end diplomatic crisis

Buildings are seen on a coast line in Doha, Qatar, June 15, 2017. Reuters/Naseem Zeitoon

Qatar has been handed a 13-point list of demands to end the diplomatic crisis. Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt and other countries involved in the rift insist that Qatar sever all ties with terrorist groups, such as ISIS and Muslim Brotherhood.

The demand was presented by Kuwait, which is helping in the mediation. Qatar has 10 days to comply with all of the demands.

The Associated Press has obtained a copy of the demands in Arabic from one of the countries involved in the crisis. If Qatar agreed to the points in the list, it would also agree to be monitored annually for the next 10 years for compliance, audited once a month for the first year and the once per quarter in the second year.

The list reportedly states that Qatar must shut down state-funded broadcaster Al-Jazeera and all of its affiliates; stop funding other news outlets that include ARabi21 and Middle East Eye; refuse to naturalise citizens from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and Bahrain and expel those currently in Qatar; hand over the individuals wanted by those four mentioned countries for terrorism; stop funding any extremist groups that are labelled as terrorists by the US; and provide detailed information about opposition figures that Qatar has funded.

The countries want Qatar to cut its alleged ties with al-Qaida, the Islamic State, Hezbollah and the Nusra Front, the al-Qaida branch in Syria, among others. Qatar has vehemently denied any link to extremist groups.

Qatar must also align itself politically, economically and otherwise with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the regional intergovernmental union consisting of all Arab states of the Persian Gulf, save for Iraq. Bahrain, Saudi, UAE and Qatar are all members.

The oil-rich nation, according to the demands, must also shut down its diplomatic posts in Iran, kick out any members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard from the country, and only conduct trade and commerce with Iran that complies with US sanctions.

Earlier this month, the Arabian nations cut ties with Qatar over its alleged support of terrorist groups. The neighbouring countries closed their borders to Qatar and had ordered its diplomats to leave immediately. Since then, there are other countries that joined the rift, including Maldives, Comoros, Mauritania, the internationally recognised government of Yemen, Libya and Somaliland.

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