Djinn no tonic for Gulf crisis

A journalist for a Saudi-owned news network has said that Qataris have employed African wizards to summon spirits to solve the Gulf crisis, prompting a Twitter campaign making fun of the allegations.

Al Arabiya North and West Africa reporter, Khalil Ould Ajdoud, tweeted the claims on Saturday as the diplomatic crisis between Qatar and its neighbours showed no signs of abating.

"Sorcerers in Senegal and Mauritania are making millions of dollars by dealing with Sheikhs in Qatar who have asked them to invoke spirits and harness djinns to solve the crisis," Ould Ajdoud said.

"Qataris have paid millions of dollars in a single month to scam artists who claim to have supernatural powers and that they can protect Qatar with their witchcraft. Monitor wire transfers and you will see the evidence," the senior correspondent said.

The Djinn (Genies) are mythical demons many people in the Middle East believe are real.

Twitter users were quick to catch on to the journalist's statements and create an Arabic-language hashtag (Qatar invokes Djinn) to make fun of the spooky allegations.

On June 5, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt announced they had cut all ties with Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting Islamist extremists.

The use of Social media has featured heavily throughout what has emerged as the worst diplomatic crisis to hit the Gulf in recent years.

Qatar has even urged its citizens to take the moral high ground and not engage in online arguments during the political standoff.

The crisis itself was triggered by the hacking of Qatar News Agency, with the hackers planting fabricated controversial remarks by the country's emir to incite a fake news-inspired outrage.

But Riyadh and its allies have been suspected of extensively using cyber warfare and social media propaganda campaigns as tools to target Doha.