Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi met with a top Qatari envoy, Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdel Rahman al-Thani, in Cairo Saturday in what has been reported to be a significant rapprochement between the two countries.
Also in attendance was Khalid al-Tuwaijri, head of the Saudi Royal Court and the powerful private secretary to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has expressed its welcome regarding ongoing steps that will strengthen relations between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Qatar, including the visit made by Special Envoy of the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to Egypt,” the SPA said, quoting a Saudi Royal Court statement, according to Al Arabiya.
Notably, the office of the Qatari Emir, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, issued a statement that Qatar has pledged its “full support” to Egypt and that the “The security of Egypt is important for the security of Qatar… the two countries are linked by deep and fraternal ties,”
The disagreement, in part, stems from Qatar’s support of Mohammed Morsi, who Qatar said was deposed in a “coup,” a term that angered Saudi Arabia and other supporters of Sisi.
The announcement of a new direction in bilateral relations between Egypt and Qatar “comes a few weeks after Gulf countries said a rift between Qatar and other states of the Gulf Cooperation Council has ended after months of tensions over Doha’s support of Islamist movements in Egypt and other parts of the Middle East,” reported Wall Street Journal correspondent Ahmed Al-Omran.
Al-Omran also highlighted the financial troubles facing Egypt and Gulf support of the important Arab country:
“Egypt has relied heavily on billions of dollars in financial aid from wealthy Gulf states…with Qatar providing most of that aid after Mr. Morsi was elected in June 2012. But as relations between Egypt and Qatar deteriorated after Mr. Morsi’s removal, Doha asked Cairo to return the deposits it placed at the Central Bank of Egypt. The country has now repaid $6 billion to Qatar, with $500 million of outstanding debt to be paid in the second half of 2015. This gap was quickly filled by other oil-rich Gulf countries after Mr. Sisi came to power.”
