Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Ministry of Foreign Affairs
21 April 2008, Addis Ababa
The Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia has decided to break diplomatic relations with the State of Qatar. This decision has been taken after long observation of Qatar’s activities in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia has displayed considerable patience towards Qatar’s attempts to destabilize our sub-region and, in particular, its hostile behavior towards Ethiopia. Qatar has now, however, become a major source of instability in the Horn of Africa and more widely.
Qatar’s ostensibly maverick political alliances might be regarded as innocuous. They are not. Its image is misleading. Qatar’s activities have far reaching consequences for the whole of Africa. Indeed, the African Union needs to look into the implication of this situation for Africa Arab cooperation.
Qatar has left no stone unturned to cause harm to Ethiopia’s national security. All those who are prepared to foment instability in Ethiopia and undermine the country’s security have been given support and encouragement by Qatar. This has gone beyond Qatar’s strong ties with Eritrea. It has indeed provided direct and indirect assistance to terrorist organizations in Somalia and other areas. This has included the output of its media outlets. Qatar has become a source of support for armed opposition groups and their coordinators in neighboring countries. Whether in Somalia and in other parts of the Horn of Africa—including within Ethiopia—Qatar has been one of the most important supporters of terrorism and extremism in our sub-region. This has wider implications.
Ethiopia has raised these issues with the Government of Qatar on a number of occasions. All diplomatic efforts have been deployed to try and persuade Qatar to change its destructive activities. Qatar has, however, consistently refused to accept responsibility for activities of which Ethiopia has unequivocal evidence. Apparently blinded by arrogance, the source of which is clear enough, Qatar has remained deaf to all our efforts.
The Government of Ethiopia has reluctantly been left with no alternative than taking this now unavoidable step. We trust the Government of Qatar will speedily change the misguided policies which have led to this unfortunate situation.
