Egypt vows to maintain blockade on Qatar

Egypt has recently informed Kuwait that it was committed to keeping anti-Qatar measures in place until the demands made by Cairo and its three Gulf Arab allies were met.

Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s foreign minister, said during a meeting with his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah in Cairo on Monday that the only way to resolve the Gulf Crisis was for Qatar to comply.

The insistence comes “in light of what the quartet states see as Qatar’s stalling and procrastination, and lack of concern for the concern of the four countries,” said Ahmed Abu Zeid, Egypt’s foreign ministry spokesman, said in a statement.

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi also met Sabah al-Khalid on Monday.

Sisi told him he appreciated Kuwait’s mediation in the dispute, but Egypt would not let anyone interfere in its affairs and would stand strong against policies that support “terrorism”, his spokesman Alaa Youssef said in a statement, referring to Egypt’s accusations against Qatar that are denied by Doha.

Also on Monday, the Egyptian foreign ministry said that Cairo would end visa-free entry for Qatari nationals.

The new move comes six weeks after Egypt, along with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, cut ties with Qatar on June 5 and imposed an air, sea and land blockade on the country.

The quartet accused Doha of supporting “extremists” – an allegation that Qatar denies.

More than two weeks after the Gulf Crisis began, the blockading countries issued a list of 13 demands that included the closure of Al Jazeera Media Network.

The move was condemned by various international rights organisations, the United Nations and heads of states.