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Qatar Appeals to UNSC to Help End Blockade

Qatar Appeals to UNSC to Help End Blockade
Qatar Appeals to UNSC to Help End Blockade

Qatar’s foreign minister has asked members of the United Nations Security Council to urge a Saudi-led bloc of states to lift their blockade on the Persian Gulf country, nearly one month after it began.

Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Friday met with 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council at the Qatari mission to the UN in New York, urging them to speak out publicly on his country’s behalf, Al Jazeera reported.

Al Thani told Al Jazeera he gave them “updates on the situation” and urged “all of them to call for a lifting of the blockade on Qatar”.

Qatar was “trying to encourage all the parties to enter a serious dialogue to try to put an end to this,” the foreign minister said.

The meeting took place one day after Al Thani’s visit to Washington DC, “where US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson promised to try to help resolve the crisis.”

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar on June 5 over allegations that it supports “extremism” and is too close to Iran - charges Doha has repeatedly denied.

After more than two weeks, the four Arab countries gave Doha a 10-day ultimatum to comply with a 13-point list of demands in exchange for the end of the anti-Qatar measures.

The demands include that Qatar shut down the Al Jazeera Media Network, close a Turkish military base, scale down ties with Iran, and pay an unspecified sum in reparations.

Egypt, a non-permanent member of the Security Council through the end of this year, did not attend the meeting with Al Thani in New York.

 

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