Terrorism fears cause United Arab Emirates to sever ties with Qatar

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) today announced that it has severed all ties with Qatar, over alleged links with terrorist organisations.

The UAE maintains that it is committed to the security and stability of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), of which it is a member alongside Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.

In a statement released by its London embassy, the UAE accused Qatar of supporting, funding and hosting terrorist organisations including Isis (widely known in the Gulf states as Daesh), Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Anwar Gargash, UAE's minister of state for foreign affairs, told CNN:

We want to make clear that various countries - Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Egypt and others – are fed up with Qatar’s duplicity, which has been undermining the region. We want to send a strong message that now is the time for cooler heads to restructure Qatar’s approach on foreign policy.

The UAE added that Qatar had failed to return GCC diplomats to its capital, Doha, which was agreed in the US-Islamic Summit – attended by US President Trump – held in Saudi Arabia in May.

Gargash said that the decision to cut off cooperation with Qatar was “an accumulation of Qatar’s behaviour in the region – especially its recent logistical and financial support for extremist groups and terrorist organisations such as al Nusra and some organisations in Libya and the Sinai”.

He added: “Qatar is undermining regional security and our attempts at countering the extremist and terrorist narrative.”

Saudi Arabia has been sending similarly unimpressed signals to Doha, revoking Qatar Airways' licence to fly and land in the country earlier this week.

The escalating tension between Qatar and its neighbouring nations has already caused oil prices to creep up, as investors anticipate disruption to supplies in the oil-rich nations.

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