Cairo, Egypt

Egypt and Qatar have agreed to resume diplomatic relations. With this, Egypt has become the first country to officially resume ties under an Arab deal to end a long-running dispute with Doha.

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Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt agreed earlier this month to restore diplomatic, trade and travel ties severed in 2017 over allegations Qatar supported terrorism, a charge that Doha denies.

"The Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Qatar exchanged, today, January 20, 2021, two official memoranda, in virtue of which the two countries agreed to resume diplomatic relations," a foreign ministry statement said on Wednesday.

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said the kingdom expects to reopen its embassy in Qatar within days, and full diplomatic relations between the two would resume.

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The UAE, which followed Saudi in reopening all entry points to Qatar, has said restoring diplomatic ties will take time. Bahrain has reopened its air space to Qatar, as has Egypt.

The US-backed accord to end the row was one of a series of Middle East deals by former President Donald Trump's administration aimed at building a united front against Iran.

When the boycott was announced, Egypt and its allies called on Qatar to cut ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, among other demands. Doha said the embargo aimed to curtail its sovereignty.

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The Islamist group was outlawed in Egypt after then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi led the overthrow of the Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi from the presidency in 2013, before being elected president himself the following year.

Much of the Muslim Brotherhood's senior leadership was jailed in Egypt but other members took refuge abroad in Qatar or its regional ally Turkey.