NOVANEWS
Qatar’s Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah presides over the Gulf Cooperation Council meeting in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia, Feb. 14, 2015. | Photo: Reuters
Egypt accused Qatar of supporting terrorrism because it expressed concerns about Cairo’s airstrikes on Libya.
Qatar pulled its ambassador out of Egypt Thursday in response to Cairo’s decision to unilaterally launch airstrikes against Libya, while the Egyptian government responded by accusing Qatar of supporting terrorism.
Egypt bombed Islamic State group positions Monday in Libya after the extremists released a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians.
Qatar expressed concerns about Egypt’s decision to conduct military operations in a fellow Arab League country.
“According to our reading in Egypt to this Qatari reservation, it became clear that Qatar has revealed its position that supports terrorism,” said Egypt’s permanent representative to the Arab League, Tareq Adel, in response to Qatar expressing reservations,
Qatar Foreign Ministry offical Saad bin Ali al-Muhannadi replied to Adel’s accusation, saying that it was “against righteousness, wisdom and principles of joint Arab action.”
Al-Muhannadi added that Qatar “is supportive and will always remain supportive of the will and stability of the Egyptian people.” However, he also said that Qatar was within its right to point out that Egypt should have conferred with members of the Arab League before “launching a unilateral military action in another member state, a matter which might lead to harming civilians.”
The Arab League Wednesday, following a meeting in Cairo, released a statement saying that it had “complete understanding” about Egypt launching airstrikes in Libya, and that it supported Egypt’s call for reversing the U.N.’s arms embargo, which does not allow supplying weapons to the Libyan military.
The Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammad al-Dairi asked the U.N. Security Council Wednesday to lift the embargo.
“Libya needs a decisive stance from the international community to help us build our national army’s capacity and this would come through a lifting of the embargo on weapons, so that our army can receive material and weapons, so as to deal with this rampant terrorism,” said al-Dairi.
Relations between Egypt and Qatar have been strained in recent years. Qatar supported the former Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi, who the current Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi overthrew in the summer of 2013.
Egypt bombed Islamic State group positions Monday in Libya after the extremists released a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians.
Qatar expressed concerns about Egypt’s decision to conduct military operations in a fellow Arab League country.
“According to our reading in Egypt to this Qatari reservation, it became clear that Qatar has revealed its position that supports terrorism,” said Egypt’s permanent representative to the Arab League, Tareq Adel, in response to Qatar expressing reservations,
Qatar Foreign Ministry offical Saad bin Ali al-Muhannadi replied to Adel’s accusation, saying that it was “against righteousness, wisdom and principles of joint Arab action.”
Al-Muhannadi added that Qatar “is supportive and will always remain supportive of the will and stability of the Egyptian people.” However, he also said that Qatar was within its right to point out that Egypt should have conferred with members of the Arab League before “launching a unilateral military action in another member state, a matter which might lead to harming civilians.”
The Arab League Wednesday, following a meeting in Cairo, released a statement saying that it had “complete understanding” about Egypt launching airstrikes in Libya, and that it supported Egypt’s call for reversing the U.N.’s arms embargo, which does not allow supplying weapons to the Libyan military.
The Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammad al-Dairi asked the U.N. Security Council Wednesday to lift the embargo.
“Libya needs a decisive stance from the international community to help us build our national army’s capacity and this would come through a lifting of the embargo on weapons, so that our army can receive material and weapons, so as to deal with this rampant terrorism,” said al-Dairi.
Relations between Egypt and Qatar have been strained in recent years. Qatar supported the former Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi, who the current Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi overthrew in the summer of 2013.
