Riyadh - Said Al Ghamedi
The four Arab states calling to fight terrorism emphasized on Monday that the documents published by CNN, including the Riyadh Agreement of 2013, its Executive Mechanism and the Riyadh Supplementary Agreement of 2014, confirm beyond doubt Qatar’s failure to fulfill its commitments and its violation of its pledges.
In a joint statement on the documents released by CNN, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt asserted that the 13 demands submitted to the Qatari government were to fulfill its previous obligations and that the original demands are stated in the Riyadh Agreement, its mechanism and the Supplementary Agreement and are fully in line with the spirit of what has been agreed upon.
The first agreement handwritten and agreed in Nov. 23, 2013, was signed by the late King Abdullah, emir of Kuwait and Qatari emir. The agreement commits Qatar to stop supporting and financing deviant groups, stop interfering in the internal affairs of Gulf neighbors and not to support "antagonistic media."
It was also agreed not to support Muslim Brotherhood or any other organizations or individuals who are a threat to the security and stability of Gulf states. The three states also agreed that none of the GCC states would extend support to any group in Yemen that poses danger to Yemen’s neighboring states.
A second document headlined "top secret" and signed on Nov. 16, 2014, adds the King of Bahrain, the prime minister of UAE and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi as signatories. The signatories committed to support Egypt's stability and prevent Al Jazeera from being a platform for groups and figures to challenge the Egypt government.
The most prominent demand agreed by the Qatari emir on the 2014 agreement was to halt Qatar’s support for the Muslim Brother and the expulsion of all its affiliates of non-citizens from Qatar. Qatar also promised not to harbor persons with harmful agendas toward the GCC and not to support any organization fighting against the legitimate government in Yemen and Egypt.
While the existence of the agreements has always been known, specific details were kept secret because of the sensitivity and as per GCC meetings protocols.
Another document reveals the names of 12 Bahraini military officers who were naturalized by Qatar.
One of the clauses signed by Qatar on the the Supplementary Riyadh Agreement 2014 was Doha's halting of all employment and support – either directly or indirectly – of media professionals and outlets that have an anti-GCC agenda.
Qatar also agreed to work with GCC states in supporting Egypt and maintaining its security and stability and specifically, stopping “insults directed from Al Jazeera Media Channel and Al Jazeera’s Egypt Live (Mubasher Misr) channel”.
It is worth noting that Qatar decided to disband and close down Mubasher Misr after the agreement was signed back then.