(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) "We do not trust them. There is zero trust" The UAE has called for a 'Western mechanism' to make Qatar abide by any agreement to end its support for terrorism.
UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr Anwar Gargash, said Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain do not trust Qatar. He was speaking in London during a visit intended to rally diplomatic support for the Qatar embargo, The Guardian reported on Saturday.
"This is about behavioural change," Dr Gargash said. "If we get clear strategic signals that Qatar is going to change and it will stop funding violent militants that is the basis for a discussion, but we would need a monitoring system.
"We do not trust them. There is zero trust, but we need a monitoring system and we need our Western friends to play a role in this," he said.
Dr Gargash said the monitoring would aim to ensure Qatar was no longer funding extremism, harbouring extremists in Doha, or providing support to the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Al Qaeda.
Qatar has denied supporting the groups.
Dr Gargash said the UAE named 59 individuals walking free in Doha who had been identified as terrorists or financiers of terrorism, including 14 who are sanctioned by the US State Department and nine by the UN.
He said it was like entering a crime scene and finding Qatar's fingerprints all over.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir showed no signs of backing down either, telling a press conference: "We have a list of grievances we shall give to Qataris fairly soon. It is about having a zero-tolerance policy."
On June 5, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt broke diplomatic relations with Qatar and implemented a series of economic measures after claiming that Doha funded terrorist groups. Several other countries followed suit.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Vice-President Iyad Allawi accused Qatar of promoting a plan to split Iraq along sectarian lines and endorsed actions taken by Arab states against Doha.
"In Iraq, Qatar adopted a project similar to that of Iran; to split Iraq into a Sunni region in exchange for a Shia region," Allawi told a news conference in Cairo. "Unfortunately, some Arab states were silent when it came to Qatar."
Allawi was in Cairo to meet Egyptian leaders, including President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, for discussions about oil and the conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Libya.
"It is time we all spoke honestly and made things clear (to the Qataris) so we can reach some results," Allawi said. - Agencies
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