Reuters, Cairo :
Egypt’s foreign ministry summoned Qatar’s ambassador on Saturday to complain about interference in its internal affairs after Doha criticized Cairo’s crackdown on the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.
The formerly close Qatari-Egyptian relationship has soured since the Egyptian army ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, who had been firmly supported by Doha, last July following mass protests against his one-year rule.
Cairo then launched a wide crackdown against Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood group and labeled it a terrorist group last week.
Qatar said on Saturday that the decision to name the Brotherhood a terrorist organization was “a prelude to a shoot-to-kill policy” against demonstrators who have been staging frequent protests to call for Mursi’s reinstatement.
“Egypt reiterates that it will not allow any external party to interfere in its internal affairs under any name or justification,” Egypt’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdelatty said in a statement. Any country that tried to interfere would have “the responsibility for the consequences,” he added of the message given to Qatar’s ambassador to Cairo, Saif Moqadam Al-Boenain after the envoy was called in on Saturday.
Egypt accuses Qatar and its Doha-based Al Jazeera television channel of backing the Muslim Brotherhood. Thousands of the Brotherhood’s members have been arrested.
Earlier, a Qatari foreign ministry statement said: “The decision to designate popular political movements as terrorist organizations, and labeling peaceful demonstrations as terrorism, did not succeed in stopping the peaceful protests.
