The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, accepted an invitation to attend the Economic Summit, despite an escalating dispute between his country and Egypt.
“There is a muzzled tension between Egypt and Qatar,” Kandil said, adding that Qatar’s presence in the Economic Summit does not offer trust.
Egypt’s judiciary is looking into a lawsuit accusing Qatar of supporting terrorism by “providing financial, logistical and media support for terrorist leaders in the Arab world”.
The Gulf nations, with the exception of Qatar, were supportive of Egypt’s interim government after the overthrow of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
(AFP File Photo)
Qatar is portrayed in the Egyptian media as a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is now banned in Egypt, and has been listed as a “terrorist organisation” since December 2013. Qatar’s discourse does not match its actions, Kandil said.
Qatar had congratulated Al-Sisi upon his presidential inauguration, yet continues to support the toppled Muslim Brotherhood regime through its media. It also allows clerics such as Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, who is wanted by the INTERPOL based on Egypt’s request, to remain resident in Qatar.
Qatar was against Morsi’s ouster, having been a firm supporter of his. The tiny Gulf state lent Egypt $7.5bn in aid during his year in power, and promised billions of dollars in investments. Much of this aid has now either been returned or cancelled by the new army-backed government, and many of the former president’s supporters fled Egypt to Qatar following Morsi’s ouster.
In September 2014, Qatar decided to expel seven Muslim Brotherhood members who had earlier fled there. Egyptian-Qatari relations witnessed a slight improvement by the end of the year, when Saudi Arabia played the role of mediator between Egypt and Qatar in recent months.
But Qatar has been withdrawing from reconciliation terms since the death of King Abdullah Al-Saud, Kandil said.
“Qatar’s true intentions towards Egypt are executing a US agenda for the region and rearranging the map of the region, “a role bigger than its size and history,” he said.
Ezz Al-Arab regards Qatari conduct as mysterious, saying that the Qatari leadership has accumulated a conflicting policy. This is especially so with the change in power away from Islamists, Qatar’s partners, after they failed at running Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia and Libya.
Qatar continues to regard 30 June as a coup and reflects the view in its media, he said. It fabricates tapes and leaks them to endanger Egypt’s relations with the Gulf countries.
Lowering the pressure on the Muslim Brotherhood may depend on Qatar’s policy to decrease its support for them and other violent groups and to stop suggesting that the Qatari-Turkish coalition is aimed against President Al-Sisi, said Ezz Al-Arab.
