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Wednesday 18 October 2017 - 16:23

Qatar Emir Slams Unjust Saudi-Imposed Siege

Story Code : 677614
Qatar Emir Slams Unjust Saudi-Imposed Siege
Speaking in Indonesia - which has the world's largest population of Muslims- Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said he discussed the crisis with President Joko Widodo.

"We conveyed … that Qatar is ready to conduct a dialogue to solve the problem as we already know that no one will win," Sheikh Tamim told reporters after meeting with Widodo at the state palace in Bogor, outside the capital Jakarta.

"We are all brothers and suffering because of this crisis," he added.

Meanwhile, Qatar has accused Saudi Arabia of trying to engineer "regime change" during its four-month blockade of its Persian Gulf neighbor.

Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told CNBC on Tuesday that Riyadh is attempting to destabilize Qatar's leadership.

"We see [Saudi] government officials talking about regime change … We see a country that is bringing back the dark ages of tribes and putting them together in order to create a pressure on connected tribes in Qatar," he said.

On June 5, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain severed relations with Qatar and imposed a blockade against it, accusing Doha of funding "terrorism". Qatar has vehemently rejected the allegations as "baseless".

On June 22, the group issued a 13-point list of demands, including the shutdown of Al Jazeera TV, limiting ties with Iran, and expelling Turkish troops stationed in the country as a prerequisite to lifting the blockade. Doha rejected all the demands, denouncing them as attempts to infringe Qatar's sovereignty.

Qatar is the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, and also houses the region's biggest US military base with more than 11,000 American troops.
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