Egypt, Qatar appoint mutual ambassadors
Qatar has appointed an ambassador to Egypt, for the first time since reconciliation efforts started between the two countries earlier this year, setting the stage for better relations with Cairo in the coming period.
CAIRO — Qatar has appointed a new ambassador to Egypt, taking another step closer to the Arab country.
The July 29 move by Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani brings Qatari diplomatic representation back to Cairo, for the first time since the two countries agreed to mend fences in Saudi Arabia early this year.
The unfolding Egyptian-Qatari detente is part of a larger reconciliation process between Qatar and what came to be known as the Arab Quartet, which also contains — apart from Egypt — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
The four countries severed diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar in June 2017 in protest of Qatari interference in their internal affairs and its support of political Islam, especially the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement of Egypt's late Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, which has several ideological offshoots in the Arab Peninsula and North Africa.
