HE the Foreign Minister Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah and his French counterpart Laurent Fabius during a joint press conference in Paris yesterday.
AFP/Paris
Qatar has never given aid to an Egyptian political party and that all its assistance has gone to Egypt as a whole, HE the Foreign Minister Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah said yesterday.
“As far as Qatar’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood, there are some wrong impressions about the aid Qatar is providing,” said al-Attiyah.
“Qatar has never given aid to an Egyptian group or an Egyptian political party. The aid has always been provided to Egypt,” he told journalists in Paris after meeting French counterpart Laurent Fabius.
“Qatari aid began immediately after the revolution and continues today,” he added, referring to the Arab Spring uprising that overthrew long-time Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
“We do not give aid to any political party.”
Qatar last Wednesday forcefully condemned the crackdown by Egyptian security forces on supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt’s ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi.
More than 750 people were killed in four days after the military and police launched a blistering crackdown on Islamist protest camps, sparking
international condemnation.
Since the Egyptian army ousted Mursi last month amid massive protests against his rule, Qatar has repeatedly called for a dialogue between all Egyptians to bring an end to the crisis, a message echoed by France yesterday.
“What’s evident to everyone who’s following the situation in Egypt is how quickly the bloodshed needs to be stopped and to be able to open an inter-Egyptian dialogue. It’s not easy but all countries must advance in that direction,” Fabius said.
“It’s important we mobilise our energy so that Egyptians find a solution,” he added. “No one - not Qatar, not France, not any country - can impose a solution. It’s up to the Egyptians to make their decisions.”
Fabius confirmed European foreign ministers would soon meet in Brussels to discuss the Egypt crisis, giving a timeframe of “undoubtedly toward mid-week”.
Senior European Union diplomats are to hold emergency talks on Egypt today and prepare the ground for a possible extraordinary meeting of the EU’s 28 foreign ministers.
Yesterday, EU leaders Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso said the bloc would “urgently review” ties with Egypt’s army and government unless the bloodshed ends.
On Saturday, visiting Berlin, al-Attiyah said that Qatar was devastated by the violence in Egypt.
“There is no other solution... for Egypt but dialogue, including all political forces. Otherwise there is great danger that more blood will spill... which indicates the danger of civil war,” he told journalists after meeting his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle.
“We in Qatar are extremely concerned about the high number of victims. We are devastated by the violence,” al-Attiyah said.
He called for an “end to violence and dialogue between all parties” as well as the freedom of political prisoners.
The visit of al-Attiyah to Germany and France comes as part of efforts exerted by Qatar to find a political solution to the crisis in Egypt.
In Cairo yesterday, Mursi’s supporters cancelled some Cairo marches for “security reasons”, as the country’s military chief vowed to face down violent protests.
In his first remarks since the crackdown on Islamist protest camps campaign began last Wednesday, military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said security forces would confront further violence from protesters.
“We will never be silent in the face of the destruction of the country,” Sisi told top military and police commanders in Cairo.
“We are very prepared for this,” he said, pledging a “forceful” response to further attacks on police stations and government buildings.
The Islamists said they cancelled “several marches”, citing fears of vigilantes and snipers but that others would go ahead.
“Several marches in Cairo have been cancelled for security reasons,” said Yasmine Adel, a spokeswoman for the Anti-Coup Coalition of Mursi loyalists.
