Cairo/Riyadh: Egypt yesterday hailed a “new era” in Arab solidarity after Gulf states agreed to welcome Qatar back to the fold following the resolution of a dispute between them.
Cairo said it offered its full support to the reconciliation move, which it described as a “huge step towards Arab solidarity”.
The reaction came after the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia had called on Egypt to back an agreement between Gulf states that ended an eight-month dispute over Qatar’s backing of Arab Spring revolts.
In a statement published by the Saudi Press Agency, the king appealed to the leadership and people of Egypt to “work with us for the success of this step in the march of Arab solidarity”.
Earlier Bahrain and the UAE had welcomed Saudi king’s statement for Arab unity.
“We look forward to a new era that would end past disputes and spread hope and optimism to our peoples,” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi’s office said yesterday.
The Egyptian army’s overthrow last year of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi strained ties with Qatar. His ouster led to differences among Gulf states, with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia hailing his replacement, while Qatar repeatedly denounced it.
Tensions hit a low in March when Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE announced the withdrawal of their ambassadors from Qatar in protest at its policies.
Egypt had already withdrawn its ambassador in February, although Doha has kept its envoy in Cairo.
Ties between Cairo and Doha are also strained over an Egyptian court convicting and jailing three reporters from Al Jazeera television for allegedly backing Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood.
Cairo considers Al Jazeera as Doha’s voice after the channel repeatedly criticised its crackdown on Mursi’s supporters that has left at least 1,400 people dead since his ouster.
The reconciliation drive comes amid security fears over the rise of the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria and Iraq.
Agencies
