Measures taken against Qatar by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain were taken after confirming its interference in domestic affairs and funding of terrorism, Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Monday. Shoukry made the comments during his speech at the 44th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held in Ivorian capital Abidjan. “We regret such measures against Qatar. However, we'd like to affirm that such decisions were made after we were certain of its practices, which include interference of other countries' domestic affairs, and undermining security in our communities and spreading chaos, and the non-stop funding of terrorist and other extremist organizations,” Shoukry said. He added that Qatar was fostering terrorist fugitives, as well as promoting jihadist extremist ideas, which he said affected the “image of our Islamic communities”. The foreign minister said the United Nations' Libya Sanctions Committee had issued reports that included evidence of Qatar's involvement in propagating disorder, smuggling arms, as well as providing financial, intelligence, and logistical assistance to terrorist and extremist organizations in Libya. Last month, the four Arab states severed diplomatic ties and transport links with Qatar, accusing the oil-rich Gulf state of supporting terrorism. Doha has denied the accusations. Foreign ministers from the four countries convened in Cairo last Thursday as a 10-day deadline for Doha to meet their demands had expired. They condemned Qatar's response as "not serious” and "negative". The four states said late on Thursday that Doha's refusal to abide by a list of demands they had issued it, proves its links to terror groups, pledging to take new political, economic and legal measures against it.
