Sisi says Egypt ready to 'mobilise forces' if Arab Gulf states face threat

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi said that his country is ready to defend the Arab Gulf states against any possible danger or “direct threat.”

“If the Gulf’s security is subjected to danger or a direct threat from any side, all of the Egyptian people, and not just the president, will be willing to mobilise its forces to confront the aggression and support [thei]r brethren,” Sisi was quoted in SkyNews Arabia as saying during a youth forum held in the Egyptian coastal city of Sharm El Sheikh.

“We wish that Iran would commit to not interfering in others’ affairs, and we hope that all realise the importance of this,” he told a closed session held for journalists in the Sharm El Sheikh conference.

Sisi stressed that Egypt would not allow “Arab national security” to be threatened, “particularly the Gulf region.”

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In addition to expressing his country’s support for Arab Gulf countries, the Egyptian president commented on the Egyptian-Ethiopian dispute over Ethiopia’s construction of a dam on the Nile River, affecting the water’s flow to downstream Egypt.

Major changes have been taking place in Ethiopia “, and we have communicated directly with the new leadership and sensed major change, and we would like to turn the good talk into a binding agreement.”

He expressed his support for the “African brethren’s development endeavours, but not at the expense of Egyptians’ lives. What we’ve heard is very reassuring. We want to turn it into procedures and documents because country’s relations are based on this, and not on intentions.”

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He described the obstacles as clear since an agreement was signed in 2015. What matters is for the new dam not to affect Egypt’s historical quota of Nile waters and not to be used for political purposes, the Egyptian president noted.

Further, on African affairs, Sisi answered a question from a participant in the youth forum on the possibility of a single African currency. He said that such a step would not work out.

He added that it is essential to be realistic and to start with feasible dreams such as putting a framework for solving the continent’s conflicts. “Efforts towards the [African] Union’s structural reform started years ago, and they will certainly continue under Egypt’s chairmanship” of the AU Assembly.

 Egypt’s Sisi calls for Gulf stability, including Qatar