Ibrahim Yusri warns against conspiracy to steal Egypt's gas

Former Egyptian ambassador and international lawyer Dr. Ibrahim Yusri has said that the visit of the Cypriot President recently made to Egypt is dubious and is aimed at finalising arrangements for implementing the “unfair” maritime borders agreement between Cyprus and Egypt.

In an exclusive statement to Arab 21’s electronic edition, Yusri added that the agreement signed between Cairo and Nicosia in 2003 led to the “theft” of a water surface area from Egypt that is bigger than the area of the Delta (estimated to be about 33 thousand square kilometres.)

Dr. Ibrahim Yusri pointed out that he filed a lawsuit to stop the implementation of this agreement. However, his lawsuit has so far not been discussed by the judiciary. He explained that the aforementioned agreement has remained secret since it was signed in 2003, up until 2012.

Yusri said that Cyprus concluded a deal with Israel to utilise bordering waters without taking into consideration Egyptian interests. He noted that Tel Aviv and Nicosia are seeking, via this deal, to steal Egyptian economic waters and its territorial seabed.

According to Dr. Yusri, the agreement signed between Cyprus and Israel has led to the theft of a huge gas field located around 90 miles away from the Egyptian city of Dumyat. That location is about 270 nautical miles away from Israel. Hence, Dr. Yusri exclaims: “how did this Egyptian field suddenly become Israeli?”

Dr. Ibrahim Yusri is renowned for his defence of Egyptian energy resources. Several years ago he filed a lawsuit against the government during the reign of ousted President Mubarak in order to stop the exportation of Egyptian gas to Israel.

Yusri added in his exclusive interview with Arab 21: “The conspiracy deal between Cyprus and Israel distributed 3 gas fields located in the waters overlooking the coasts of 11 states in the Mediterranean. Israel took two fields while Nicosia took one field.” He stressed that this agreement contravenes article 74 of the UN Convention for Maritime Law which stipulates the consent of all costal states to such agreements.

Yusri accused what he referred to as “Egypt’s rulers” of conspiring against Egyptian energy resources. He pointed out that Mubarak was involved in the signing the unfair agreement between Cyprus and Egypt. Others, he added, were also embroiled including the middleman who brokered the deal to sell the Egyptian gas to Israel.