Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said on Friday that a list of grievances involving Qatar was being drawn up and would be made public soon.
The minister, Adel al-Jubeir, said Qatar should respond to demands to halt its support for “extremism and terrorism” which, he said, were being made by the whole world and not just Gulf states.
Speaking to journalists in London after meeting British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, Jubeir said: “I would not call them demands. I would say it is a list of grievances that need to be addressed and that the Qataris need to fix.
“We are working on those with our Bahraini, Emirati and Egyptian partners in order to compile this list and present it to the Qataris, and I think it will be done fairly soon,” he said.
Separate bilateral meetings are scheduled to take place between British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson and his UAE and Bahraini counterparts, after his meeting with Jubeir. The crisis with Qatar is likely to be the highlight of these meetings.
Johnson issued a statement a few days ago that called on Qatar to take the concerns of its neighbors seriously and urged it to do more to prevent the support of extremist groups.
As regional and international efforts continue to try to contain the Qatari crisis, the British prime minister called on Doha authorities to make greater efforts to tackle terrorism in the region. The UAE foreign minister stressed the importance of taking decisive action on combating terrorism and stopping incitement and interference in neighbor affairs.
Discussions continue on the Arab, American and European level, where various parties have made almost identical calls to Qatar, to counter terrorism and to calm the concerns about its practices. The latest calls were made by UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed.
From Washington, where he met his US counterpart Rex Tillerson, the UAE foreign minister called on Doha to take decisive action to stop financing terrorist groups, refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of its neighbors and end its use of media platforms to incite and promote extremism.
Washington, for its part, denied that it had any intention to host a summit to discuss the crisis, which dodged bets that Washington may put its political and diplomatic weight to press in the direction of reaching a solution that may end the crisis with Qatar.
In a telephone conversation with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar, British Prime Minister Theresa May called for steps to calm tensions, engage wisely in dialogue and restore the unity of the Gulf Cooperation Council as soon as possible.
May called on Qatar to do more to counter terrorism in the region.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has left Qatar in the direction for Kuwait and is expected to travel to Riyadh. However, Turkish mediation is facing many difficulties, notably Ankara's view that sanctions and embargoes are not positive in tackling the crisis.
(With Reuters)
