On the second day of his visit to Cairo, King Salman met Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the President of Egypt and afterwards declared this news.
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(Egyptian Presidency via AP).
He added that there has been communication with Egypt regarding demarcating the borders since the days of Egypt’s King Farouk and Saudi King Abdulaziz.
Egypt has agreed to hand over two uninhabited but strategically placed islands to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Some lawmakers waved the kingdom’s green flag, while others chanted “all of Egypt greets you”. After the speech, two lawmakers recited poems in praise of the monarch. The king later left the chamber, holding hands with the speaker, Ali Abdel Al.
Saudi Arabia, along with other Arab nations of the Persian Gulf, has pumped billions of dollars into Egypt’s flailing economy ever since the army deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
Egyptian officials and media have heaped accolades on Salman, with state television welcoming him to what it called his “second country” – a country Riyadh views as a cornerstone in its ambitions to be a regional leader against Iran.
“Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said the agreement on transferring the islands of Tiran and Sanafir from Egyptian control to Saudi control was done with Israel’s assent”, the radio posted on its website.
Outraged activitsts portrayed the President as “Awaad”, a character in an old Egyptian song who sold his land, shamefully so in the eyes of rural Egyptians. However, the Accords also forbade Egypt from placing any military forces on the island, and it is not clear that the Saudis have agreed to this. And according to some lawyers, the agreement is obsolete without a referendum.
The social media hashtag #Egyptissold says it all.
Saudi Arabia is among Egypt’s top investors with an estimated US$27bn. The disputed islands of strategic importance were in control of Egypt, but Cairo and Riyadh were also claiming its ownership.
Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram described “a huge wave of controversy and confusion” as five people who protested against the decision were arrested at the weekend before being released on Monday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters. Egypt proceeded to block passage through the Strait of Tiran, Israel’s only maritime passage from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Red Sea.
Tiran was declared a natural protectorate after Israel handed it back to Egypt. It has since become a popular diving destination. Sissi went out on a political limb to gift the two islands to the Saudis, a very unpopular move among Egyptians.
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“Neither parliament nor a referendum could put right an unconstitutional measure”, he warned on his Facebook page. Tensions between the countries have grown in recent months, with Saudi Arabia angered by Egypt’s reluctance to follow its aggressive military policies in Yemen and Syria.
