Arab quartet does not consider Qatar "blockade" by any means

Geneva, September 15: Arab quartet of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt said that the measures taken against Qatar will not be considered as "blockade" by any means. Notably, this was said by Permanent Representative of the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations Obeid Salem Al-Ziaabi, in Geneva on Thursday.

 

While, giving a reply to the Qatari delegate during the current session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Permanent Representative of the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations Obeid Salem Al-Ziaabi said Arab Quartet have together affirmed that the measures they have taken against Qatar are legitimate sovereign decisions, which never be considered as "blockade" by any means, but a boycott emanating from the harm caused by irresponsible Doha actions through its support, financing and harboring of terrorism elements.

Also, refuting the claim by the Qatari representative that the nationals of Qatar have been harmed by what he called the "siege" enforced by the four countries, Al-Ziaabi questioned how can we assess statements made by senior officials in Qatar confirming that the Gulf country was not affected by diplomatic relations being severed and that, instead, life is orchestrating as normal as before.

“In our opinion, these contradictions adopted by Qatari policy decision-makers reflecting dualism of speech, explain that there are two tones of address in Qatar one addressomg the domestic public and the other refuting the international viewpoints aiming to unveil the real reasons behind the boycott, that's Qatar's support for terrorism and the finance of terror organizations, Al-Ziaabi added.

Ziaabiin the end also expressed regret that the Qatari delegation is putting forward this matter for the second time which indicates that Qatar has no sincere intention to review and change its policies and positions in support of terrorism and extremism.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt and several other nations cut ties with Qatar and imposed stringent economic sanctions on it over supporting extremism. On the other side, Qatar denied all their allegations saying that they never supported Islamist militants and Shi'ite Iran. Later, Saudi and its allies issued a 13-point list of demands to end the rift on June 22 and gave Qatar 10 days to comply. However, earlier Qatar rejected to fulfil the demands. From then, the verbal spat between quartet and Qatar continues on various occasions.