Algerian-Egyptian Summit To Be Organized Soon To Discuss Libya Crisis

Egypt and Algeria will hold a meeting before the Arab summit in Riyadh, mid-April, to discuss the files that the Egyptian President, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, had addressed on his first visit to Algeria after his election in his first term, including the file of combating terrorism in Africa, Former Egyptian Foreign Minister, Mohamed Orabi said.

He spoke about the nature of the external relationships of the two countries, considering that Egypt and Algeria are one of the pillars of the joint Arab action, which makes it an influential and important party in the region.

On the issue of the deal of the century, which is still looming in the horizon of foreign diplomacy of the involved parties, Mohamed Orabi added that the deal of the century still has unclear political features to the present time and therefore it is difficult to predict the future.

In an interview with Echorouk in the French capital Paris, on the sidelines of his speech under the title “The Strategic Challenges of the Franco-Egyptian Alliance”, he said: “The talk about the deal is not clear, especially after the US administration changed its foreign policy in the Middle East and chose a course that is quite different from the international situation as a whole, especially the Arab position on the Palestinian issue and considering Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and thus it will not receive acceptance in its beginnings in the Middle East.

“The deal at its beginning was sharp in the sense of the subject of Jerusalem, which did not take into account the Arab position, and put it in a lot of ambiguity in resolving the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.”

Orabi, who took over the position of Egypt Foreign Minister, as a successor to Nabil al-Arabi, rejected the readings that were made by the former Egyptian Minister of Investment, Yahia Hammad, who took over the post during the era of President, Mohamed Morsi, when he spoke about an American-Egyptian plan to evacuate 40% of the Sinai Desert lands and displace its people to establish the new state of Palestine, and commented on this, saying “This is an illogical statement that is far from the truth to the extent of delirium and is not accepted by Egypt or the Palestine.”

Concerning the crisis with Qatar, he described it as being “The gap in the Arab political body”, saying: “Unfortunately, the Iranian, Turkish and American forces gave Qatar the opportunity to grow and expand its base in the Gulf region, which is in itself a clear threat and imbalance of power in the Arab region, which has become a sensitive and potentially explosive area at any time”.

Accusations of the former Egyptian government official reached Al-Jazeera in Qatar, which broadcast an investigation accusing the Gulf countries to try to buy US politicians in Congress to influence the policy of their country towards the Gulf region, as Orabi asserted that “Qatar is in an open war that uses all the available means, the funding process and influencing American foreign opinion, and Qatar has already used the same method of subjugating public opinion in America through the funds it has”.

Samira.B/English version: Dalila Henache