(AFP PHOTO/YASSER AL-ZAYYAT)
By Marina Makary
Egypt “has been notified” that Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad will attend the Arab League Summit, said Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry to private TV channel Sada El-Balad Tuesday.
Shoukry stressed that the Arab League needs to “further unite its efforts in the coming period to be able to cope with the ongoing events in some Arab countries, especially Yemen”.
Nabil El-Araby, Arab League Secretary General, had previously highlighted that “Arab national security” tops the agenda of the upcoming summit.
The 26th Arab League Summit will be hosted in Sharm El-Sheikh on 28-29 March, where Egypt’s Economic Development Conference (EEDC) was recently held. Unlike Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) who pledged $12bn of investments and central bank deposits to Egypt, Qatar did not attend the EEDC.
Since the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, the Egyptian media has Qatar portrayed as a Muslim Brotherhood supporter, which has been listed as a terrorist organisation in Egypt since December 2013. Egyptian-Qatari ties had seen a slight improvement when Saudi Arabia’s late King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud played the role of mediator between the two countries. However, disagreements still persist.
Independent lawyers in Egypt have filed a lawsuit against Qatar as a state “supporter of terrorism” and a verdict will be issued regarding the case on 29 March.
