List also demands nation cut back ties to Iran and sever all links to extremist and terror groups including Isis and al-Qaida
BY Patrick Wintour
The Saudi-led alliance considers al-Jazeera to be a propaganda tool for Islamists. Photograph: Osama Faisal/AP
The closure of the Qatar-funded broadcaster al-Jazeera is among 13 wide-ranging demands tabled by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States as the price for lifting its two-week trade and diplomatic embargo of Qatar.
The list, obtained by Associated Press, is the first time Saudi Arabia has been prepared to put in writing the often ill-defined demands it is making of Qatar.
Saudi Arabia and the other nations leading the Qatar blockade – the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt – have in recent days been put under pressure by the US state department to set out specific demands in a bid to help launch a mediation process.
The US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, said the demands had to be reasonable and actionable. Donald Trump, the US president, has however appeared more sympathetic to the Saudis in what has become the worst diplomatic dispute to hit the Gulf for decades.
The demands include:
- Close down al-Jazeera and all its affiliates, plus other Qatar-funded news outlets
- Close a military base operated by Turkey
- Expel all citizens of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE and Bahrain currently in Qatar
- Hand over all individuals wanted by those four countries for terrorism
- Stop funding any extremist entities that are designated as terrorist groups by the US
- Provide detailed information about opposition figures Qatar has funded
- Shut down diplomatic posts in Iran
- Expel any members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard
- Conduct trade and commerce with Iran only that complies with US sanctions
The Saudi-led alliance regards al-Jazeera, the most widely watched broadcaster in the Arab world, as a propaganda tool for Islamists that also undermines support for their governments.
Qatar has been given 10 days to comply with the demands.
Turkey’s defence minister rejected suggestions that it should review its military base in Qatar and said any demand for its closure would represent interference in Ankara’s relations with the Gulf state.
Turkey’s defence minister, Fikri Isik, told broadcaster NTV that he had not seen a demand for the base to be shut. “The base in Qatar is both a Turkish base and one that will preserve the security of Qatar and the region,” he said.
The list also asks Qatar to pay reparations to the four countries that initiated the boycott as “compensation for its policies”, cut ties with terrorist, sectarian or ideological groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, end the funding of terrorism, and hand over terrorists.
The list does not include any suggestion that there must be regime change inside Qatar, but it is unlikely that Qatar will see the demands as the basis for serious negotiations. Qatar has previously said it would not hold talks while the embargo remains in force and has become reliant on Turkey, and to a lesser extent Iran, for the supply of food.
Qatar’s foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, speaking on Thursday and before the 13 demands were tabled, said Qatar had always “abided by international laws” and played a key role in the international coalition fighting Isis.
“Qatar does not support the Nusra Front in Syria … and it does not support any terrorist organisation,” he told France 24.
The list, handed to Qatar by Kuwait, which is mediating in the crisis, also requires Qatar to stop interfering in other countries’ domestic affairs. Qatar would also be required to rescind citizenship given to anyone from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain or Egypt if it was deemed they had broken the law of these countries.
Qatar is also asked to hand over records on opposition groups it had supported in the four countries leading the blockade and the kind of support they had received.
On Iran, Qatar would be required to reduce representation, close embassies and require any Iranian Revolutionary Guards to leave Qatar. Future cooperation with Iran would have to be limited to trade. All military and intelligence cooperation with Iran would have to be cut.
Cutting ties to Iran would prove incredibly difficult – Qatar shares a massive offshore natural gas field with Iran which supplies the small nation that will host the 2022 Fifa World Cup.
Qatar insists it does not fund terrorists, and says the imposition of the embargo is a punishment for following an independent foreign policy more sympathetic to the principles of the Arab spring.
If Qatar agrees to comply, the list asserts that it will be audited once a month for the first year, and then once per quarter in the second year after it takes effect. For the following 10 years, Qatar would be monitored annually for compliance.
Qatar is also warned in the document: “These requirements must be met within 10 days from the date of delivery or they will be considered void.”
Saudi Arabia and its neighbours also call for a monitoring mechanism to ensure Qatar is meeting the demands with checks once a month for the first year, every three months for the second year, and once a year for 10 years after that.
The UAE has previously said the monitoring mechanism should be run by western countries.
Source: The Guardian
