Qatar-US deal not enough say Saudi allies

The four Arab nations boycotting Qatar said on Tuesday that a Memorandum of Understanding Doha has signed with Washington to curb funding of terrorism is not enough.

"The four nations value the efforts being made by the United States to counter terrorism and dry up sources of terror finance as well as honour the full-fledged robust partnership demonstrated in the Islamic-US Summit, which formed a decisive international position against extremism and terrorism, regardless of their sources and origin," said a joint statement by the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt.

"While the four nations believe that the Memorandum of Understanding between the US and the Qatari authorities is a result of repeated pressures and demands over the past years to stop supporting terrorism, they affirm that such a step is not enough, and they will closely monitor the seriousness of Qatar in combating all forms of funding, supporting and fostering of terrorism," the statement said.

"The quartet affirms that the measures they have taken were triggered by the continuous and diversified activities of the Qatari authorities in supporting, funding and hosting terrorism and terrorists, as well as promoting hateful and extremist rhetoric and interfering in the internal affairs of states. Qatar should completely and finally stop these activities and implement the list of 13 fair and legitimate demands, in addition to any demands that the four nations may later announce, after the world knows about the insincerity of the Qatari authorities," the statement added.

The Qatari authorities have violated all their commitments, including the Riyadh Agreement of 2013, which triggered the withdrawal of ambassadors from Doha.

Consequently, the four nations cannot trust any commitments made by Qatar because of its existing policies, and will introduce strict monitoring mechanisms to ensure its sincerity to return to the rightful course, the quartet said.

Source: Fana News