Egyptian president calls Gulf leaders following alleged leaks

CAIRO - Anadolu Agency

AFP Photo

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has phoned four Gulf leaders following the emergence of allegedly leaked audio recordings, in which senior officials, including him, made offensive remarks about wealthy Gulf nations.

El-Sisi made phone calls to the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain as well as the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi on Feb. 8 night, during which the Gulf leaders reassured Egypt’s leader of their continued support to his country.

The calls came a day after an audio recording was broadcast by an Istanbul-based pro-Muslim Brotherhood satellite channel purportedly featuring then Defense Minister el-Sisi, his chief-of-staff Abbas Kamel, and then army chief of staff Mahmoud Hegazi making offensive remarks about Gulf states.

The audio, which could not be verified, also allegedly includes talks about diverting part of the aid coming from Gulf states into Egypt’s army budget.

During his phone call with el-Sisi, King Salman Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia said his country’s position towards Egypt’s stability and security would not change, describing relations between the two states as a “strategic model,” Saudi’s state-run SPA news agency said.

The Saudi monarch stressed the well-established and distinctive relations between Egypt and Saudi Arabia are “stronger than any attempt to disturb them.”

Kuwaiti Emir Sabah al-Jaber al-Sabah, for his part, assured el-Sisi that “unity and solidarity with Egypt have not and will not be affected by any attempts to undermine them.”

The Egyptian president, meanwhile, expressed his appreciation for the Gulf leaders’ stances.

Arab countries channeled billions of dollars in aid to Egypt following the military ousting of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in mid-2013.