CAIRO: Egypt has “totally’ rejected Qatar’s proposal to mediate between the Egyptian regime and the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abu-Zeid said in a statement Saturday.
“Egypt has completely rejected foreign interference into its domestic affair and the Qatari Foreign Minister’s remarks are unacceptable […] All Egyptian people have considered the Muslim brotherhood as a terrorist group and there is no way for negotiations or accepting foreign mediation,” the statement said.
In a televised interview with the London-based al-Arabi Television channel, Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiyah said his country could be a mediator between the banned Muslim brotherhood members and the Egyptian regime as Doha and Cairo have good relations.
In December 2013, Egypt’s interim government designated the Muslim Brotherhood as “terrorist group.”
After the ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi on July 3, 2013, Qatar, a critical ally of the Muslim Brotherhood, condemned his ouster by the army following the June 2013 mass protests that called for ending Muslim Brotherhood rule. Since then, relations between both sides have strained.
However, the relations have been relatively healed following mediation by late Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz via proposing an initiative, per which Qatar and its state-owned TV network Al Jazeera should not interfere in Egyptian affairs.