by News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
Maldives joins Egypt, Persian Gulf nations in cutting diplomatic ties with Qatar • Arab League chief urges Arab states to "present a united front against common threats to their national security" • U.S. wary of "permanent rift" between Gulf nations.
Arab League Secretary
General Ahmed Aboul Gheit
|
Photo credit: Reuters  |
The small Indian Ocean nation of the Maldives
on Monday announced it is severing diplomatic relations with Qatar over
its alleged support of extremist Islamist groups.
The Maldives joined Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen in cutting ties with Qatar, isolating the tiny energy-rich Persian Gulf country by severing its land, sea and air routes to the outside world.
The Maldivian Foreign Ministry said in a
statement that the island nation has pursued a policy of promoting peace
and stability in the Middle East, and the decision was made because of
its firm opposition to activities that encourage terrorism and
extremism.
Diplomatic relations between the Maldives, a predominantly Sunni Muslim nation with 341,000 people, and Qatar began in 1984.
The Maldives also grapples with extremism. It
reportedly has one of the highest per capita rates of people going to
fight in foreign wars.
The Maldives' decision to cut ties with both
Iran and Qatar reflects its increasing closeness to U.S. ally Saudi
Arabia, which opened an embassy in the Maldives in 2015 and has offered
cash grants to the government.
Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul
Gheit lamented the diplomatic rift between Qatar and major Arab and
Persian Gulf powers.
Gheit was "sorry things reached this point
between several Arab states and is concerned about the ramifications
these differences will have on joint Arab work," said a statement
released by his office on Monday evening. It continued that he was
hoping Arab states "would overcome their differences and present a
united front against common threats to their national security."
Qatar has for years presented itself as a
mediator and power broker for the region's many disputes, but Egypt and
the Gulf Arab states resent Qatar's support for Islamists, especially
the Muslim Brotherhood, which they see as a political foe. Qatar has
repeatedly and strongly denied it funds extremist groups, and said
Monday that it regretted its neighbors' "unjustified" decision.
In response to the Arab states' announcements,
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis
said Monday that they did not expect the decision to affect the fight
against terrorism, but urged the countries to address their differences.
A Washington official said the U.S. does not want to see a "permanent rift" between Gulf countries.
"There's an acknowledgment that a lot of
Qatari behavior is quite worrisome, not just to our Gulf neighbors but
to the U.S. We want to bring them in the right direction," the official
said.
Meanwhile, after announcing Monday that it was
cutting ties with Qatar, Saudi Arabia also shut the local office of Al
Jazeera, Qatar's influential satellite news channel.
The Saudis view Al Jazeera as critical of
their government, but the outlet says it is an independent news service
giving a voice to everyone in the region. The move was announced by
Saudi state television.
News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=42911
Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the author
No comments:
Post a Comment