Abu Dhabi – Mubasher: The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Egypt have decided to file a lawsuit of the sovereign airspace of the four Arab countries with Qatar to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), according to an official statement by the UAE foreign affairs and international cooperation ministry on Wednesday.
The issue is being considered at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), on the grounds that ICAO was not competent to consider that dispute.
The ICAO Council has considered two requests submitted by Qatar to the Council.
Qatar requested “The activation of Article 84 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago 1944) on the Settlement of Dispute on the interpretation and application of the Chicago Convention and its annexes with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt, especially the closure of the sovereign airspace of the four Arab countries to of the aircraft registered in Qatar, as well as preventing them from landing and taking off from the airports of the four Arab countries as well as activation of the second item of Article II concerning the settlement of the dispute over the interpretation and application of the "International Transit Services Agreement" against the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt,” the official statement said.
This call by the four countries comes in view of the decision of the ICAO Council to grant Qatar an opportunity to hear its demands, which did not include the support of these demands or to call upon the four countries to take any action.
The statement noted that the four countries will object to the ICAO decision by appealing to the ICJ under the two agreements.
“In view of the decision of the four States to appeal the ICAO decision before the International Court of Justice, ICAO will cease to consider the Qatari claims until the judgment of the International Court of Justice has been issued and coincides with the continued exercise by the four States of their sovereign right to close the airspace to Qatari aircraft under international law,” according to the statement.
