Siege nations are sabotaging stability of the entire region, says Qatari foreign minister
Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister HE Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson yesterday.
The two top-ranking officials discussed about the current situation in the Gulf region, ways to solve it and the Kuwaiti mediation.
Sheikh Mohamed reiterated Qatar’s stand that it was ready to push for dialogue and come to the negotiation table, reported Gulf Times.
“In the last six months, we’ve expressed over 50 times our readiness at all levels to engage in dialogue and blockading countries are not ready to sit. Whenever they come to engage they’ll find us on the table,” he said.
Sheikh Mohamed said that the siege countries were undermining the stability of the region and gambling with the lives of its people, reported The Peninsula.
“During the age of aggression, extremism has flourished and some governments are seeking domination, centralising power and intimidating smaller countries into submission. These things are happening right now in the region against small countries like Yemen, Somalia, Libya and now Lebanon,” he said.
He said that the illegal blockade launched against Qatar on June 5 months ago is just one more example of power play.
“The blockade is not truly about those fake demands or ultimatums but rather about modern day power playing regimes threatening freedom and liberty.”
“Political manoeuvring is destroying the security of the region and creating a vacuum which extremist may fill,” he added.
He warned of ‘dark ages’ in the Middle East, calling out neighbouring states for perpetuating ‘drama and discord’ as part of a ‘dangerous game of power.’
“It seems these powers are willing to use unbridled means of intimidation — silencing dissenters, creating humanitarian crises, shutting down communications, manipulating financial markets, bullying smaller nations, blackmailing, fracturing governments, terrorising citizens, strong arming the leaders of other nations and spreading propaganda,” Sheikh Mohammed was quoted as saying by CNN.
