Saudi Bloc Waters Down Demands on Qatar

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Abdallah Al-Mouallimi, said that the four nations that have blockaded Qatar – Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Saudi Arabia – are now committed to six principles agreed to by their foreign ministers in Cairo on July 5, AP reported July 19.

This waters down the original 13 demands, some of which are missing altogether, such as the closure of state broadcaster Al Jazeera.

According to Al Jazeera, the six principles are:

• Commitment to combat extremism and terrorism in all their forms and to prevent their financing or providing havens.
• Suspending all acts of provocation and speeches inciting hatred or violence.
• Full compliance with the Riyadh Agreement of 2013 and the supplementary agreement and its implementation mechanisms of 2014 within the framework of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
• Adherence to all the outcomes of the Arab Islamic American Summit held in May 2017 in Riyadh.
• Refraining from interfering in the internal affairs of states and from supporting illegal entities.
• The responsibility of all states of the international community to confront all forms of extremism and terrorism as a threat to international peace and security.

Al-Mouallimi said both sides can talk about details of the “the tactics” and “the tools” to implement them: "That’s where we can have discussion and compromise.”

Other demands were the closure of a Turkish military base, the cutting of ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, and downgrading relations with Iran.

So far the blockade has not affected the export of LNG or of pipeline gas,a commodity much in demand in the UAE, which is one of Qatar's customers. The blockade began in early June, but Qatar's wealth has meant it has had little effect on society. Both US and Kuwaiti diplomats have been shuttling between the all-but-warring nations, with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson completing a series of visits last week.

William Powell