Qatar, US sign landmark deal to combat terrorism financing, quartet calls it ‘insufficient’

Qatar, which has been subjected to an illegal blockade by its GCC and Arab neighbours, signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the USA yesterday to combat terrorism financing.  

By signing the MoU, Qatar, which has been accused of financing terrorism, became the first country to enter into such an agreement with the USA, reported Gulf Times. 

The MoU was signed in Doha by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Qatar’s Foreign Minister HE Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. 

“The MoU comes within the framework of the continuous bilateral co-operation between Qatar and the US, and as a result of the joint work between the two sides, the exchange of experience and information, the development of this mechanism as well as institutions between countries,” said Sheikh Mohamed.

However, the quartet of nations at the forefront of the Qatar blockade — Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — released a joint statement calling the agreement ‘insufficient,’ reported Al Jazeera.  

The memorandum of understanding announced in Doha during a visit by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is ‘the result of pressure and repeated calls over the past years by the four states and their partners upon Qatar to stop supporting terrorism,’ claimed the statement carried by Saudi state news agency SPA. 

‘This step is insufficient,’ said the statement, adding that the four states would ‘carefully monitor the seriousness of Qatari authorities in combating all forms of financing, supporting and harbouring terrorism.’

The statement said the embargo against Qatar would continue until Doha ‘commits to comprehensively implement the just demands, including confronting terrorism and establishing stability and security in the region.’

However, Qatar’s Government Communication Office Director HE Sheikh Saif bin Ahmed Al Thani said the MoU strengthened the existing strategic framework between the two countries for combating terrorism, according to Qatar Tribune.

Tillerson said the agreement was built on decisions made at a Riyadh summit in May to wipe terrorism from the face of the Earth.

“Together the United States and Qatar will do more to track down funding sources, will do more to collaborate and share information, and will do more to keep the region and our homeland safe,” he said.

Sheikh Mohammed, who said the MoU was a separate bilateral agreement between Qatar and the USA and that it had no direct or indirect connection to the Gulf crisis, called on the four siege-laying countries to sign the agreement and join the future as well, reported The Peninsula.

Tillerson said that the MoU specifies the steps each country will have to take to stop terrorism financing globally, and sets a timeline for its implementation, reported Qatar Tribune.

The MoU has been in operation for almost a year and is considered a renewal of the talks of Riyadh's summit and US President Donald Trump's call for combating terrorism financing.