Interesting. Qatar has been a supporter and a haven for the MB.
CAIRO – A top leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood group says he and other senior members are departing Qatar, where they had sought refuge following the ouster of Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and the crackdown on his supporters.
Amr Darrag says in a statement posted on his Facebook page Saturday that a number of the group’s leaders are leaving Qatar following a request to do so by the Gulf monarchy. “We wanted to avoid embarrassing Qatar,” he says.
Qatar was a close ally of Morsi, and relations between Cairo and Doha have been strained since his ouster, with Egypt accusing Qatar of backing the Brotherhood.
Many Brotherhood leaders fled Egypt after Morsi’s overthrow, as security forces launched a sweeping crackdown on his supporters, killing hundreds in street clashes and jailing thousands.
Why? According to the NY Times:
Still, the departures are the first hint that Qatar and its Islamist allies are bending under fierce pressure from Qatar’s neighbors, mainly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both of which view Brotherhood-style political Islam as a domestic threat to their own governments. Both countries backed the Egyptian military’s ouster last year of President Mohamed Morsi of the Brotherhood, and they have spearheaded a regional campaign to diminish or stamp out the Islamist movement.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt have all pulled their ambassadors from Qatar, and last month a high-level delegation of Saudi officials visited Qatar to press it again over the issue.