Doha News has posted an article titled “Egypt Scolds Qatari Ambassador Over Foreign Ministry’s Remarks” that provides further analysis of the deteriorating relationship between Qatar and Egypt over the former’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood. The article begins:
January 5, 2014 The fraying relationship between Qatar and Egypt grew more strained this weekend, after Cairo summoned the Gulf country’s ambassador over Doha’s remarks criticizing Egypt’s crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters.
The diplomatic rebuke came after Qatar’s foreign ministry expressed concern over the killing of protesters demonstrating in support of the Muslim Brotherhood and ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi on Friday.
Qatar, which had supported the Islamist leader prior to his removal by the military in July, said Egypt’s decision to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization was a prelude to a policy of ‘shooting to kill’ demonstrators.
The statement also noted that the Muslim Brotherhood ban had failed to stop protests in that country, ‘evidence that confrontation, security option and mobilization do not bring stability.’ Qatar added that the only solution is ‘dialogue between Egyptian political segments without exclusion.’
Those comments prompted Egypt to summon Qatar’s ambassador – a diplomatic move used by countries to public show disapproval – and issue its own statement to ‘reject’ the Gulf nation’s comments, which it called interference in its internal affairs.
‘Broken’ relationship
The war of words is the latest escalation in tensions between the two Arab nations, which last week sparred over the jailing of four Al Jazeera employees, three of whom remain in custody on accusations of spreading lies harmful to state security and joining a terrorist organization, according to the broadcaster.
The GMBDW reported yesterday that the the Qatari ambassador had been summoned to the Egyptian foreign ministry in order to object to Qatari criticism of the crackdown as well as to Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera’s coverage of events.