Daily Telegraph : Qatar is Funding Terrorist Organizations and Acting Hypocritically
Cairo : (HelloEgy).
The British Daily Telegraph News has shed the light on the topics supposed to be discussed in the meeting of the Prime Minister David Cameron and the Prince of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. The potential meeting will be in London tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. According to the Telegraph, Mr Cameron is under intense pressure to hold face-to-face talks with the Emir of Qatar this week to demand that the Gulf state cuts off the flow of funding to terrorists.
The prince Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, will arrive in Britain amid a growing furore over his country's alleged links to the financing of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and al-Qaeda.
The Prime Minister will host the Qatari ruler and his entourage for lunch as part of talks to attract billions of pounds of investment. However, Mr Cameron is facing demands to press Sheikh al-Thani to take stronger action against jihadi financiers in Qatar.
The Qatari Prince is expected to meet Sir John Sawers, the head of MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service. Critics of Qatar policy will want that meeting to focus on why the state has not done more to stop the fund-raisers operating from its capital Doha.
The negotiations follow warnings from the Obama administration last week that Qatar and Kuwait remain fertile grounds for terrorist funders. David Cohen, the US official in charge of terrorism and financial intelligence, said the two states were "permissive jurisdictions for terrorist financing".
The Telegraph’s Stop The Funding Of Terror campaign has highlighted the role played by Qatar and other Gulf states, supposed to be allies in the war against Isil and al-Qaeda, in allowing the financing of terrorism. Last night, Stephen Barclay, the Tory MP for North-East Cambridgeshire, who has repeatedly called for transparency in Britain’s dealings with Qatar and other Gulf states, said it was "essential" for Mr Cameron to raise the issue of terror financing with the Emir.
"I welcome the fact that the Prime Minister is meeting with the Emir," he said. "As part of these discussions it is essential that the issue of financing Sunni tribes in Syria and Iraq is raised.
"I hope the Prime Minister will then give further details to Parliament. It remains unclear whether money is still flowing from Qatari nationals.
"There is clear evidence that Qatari nationals have been instrumental in the financing of Sunni terror groups and the Prime Minister should not avoid tackling this issue head on with the Emir."
Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former Tory foreign secretary, said the meeting was a "perfect opportunity" to tell the Qataris they could no longer "run with the hare and hunt with the hounds".
Douglas Alexander, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, said wealthy Qataris and Kuwaitis had channelled millions of dollars to terrorists and accused the countries of having "weak money-laundering" laws in a declaration of support for the Telegraph campaign.
Telegraph has also published many details concerning how several apparently well-connected Qataris have raised millions of pounds for Isil, al-Qaeda and other affiliated groups in Syria and Iraq. Britain has been criticised for lagging behind the US in clamping down on the terror money men. MPs accuse the Government, which has extensive trade links with Qatar, of being too close to the Gulf state.
Qatar owns or co-owns several landmark sites including Harrods and the Shard skyscraper while buying large stakes in major companies.
One prominent Qatari was identified by the US as a global terrorist in December last year but it took Britain 10 months to do the same in a case highlighted by The Sunday Telegraph.
Last night, a British source said the talks between the Emir and Mr Cameron "will be about trade and investment issues as well as our military relationship, Iraq and Isil".
Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former foreign secretary and currently chairman of parliament’s intelligence and security committee, said of the Emir’s visit: "The whole point of such visits is to discuss and try to improve bilateral relations. What better subject could there be, if there is serious concern that people in Qatar have been deliberately or unintentionally helping those trying to use acts of terrorism to achieve their objectives.
"The whole point of a visit like this is not just to say friendly things to each other but to address real issues."
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