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Egypt has “sold” Saudi Arabia two of its Red Sea Islands as a show of gratitude for the billions of dollars the kingdom has given to the post-coup government of Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and a recent US$16 billion investment fund between the two countries, Egyptian media reported Monday.
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Social media users in Egypt expressed outrage over the news as they accused the government of selling the two islands to Saudi Arabia in return for political and massive financial support. They used several hashtags on Twitter including #EgyptForSale in Arabic.
Ownership of the two uninhabited islands has been disputed between the two counties for decades. However, Egypt has maintained control over them since it gained independence from the United Kingdom in the early 20th century.
The islands were briefly occupied by Israel in 1967 and then returned to Egypt after the Camp David agreement was signed in 1982. They are considered strategically significant because they are located on the sea route to the Jordanian port of Aqaba and the Israeli port of Eilat.
Social media users shared photographs from textbooks showing how the islands fell within Egyptian waters. In a statement, the Egyptian cabinet said the decision was the result of six years of study and 11 rounds of negotiations before it was decided the islands lie in Saudi regional waters.
The announcement was made during an official visit by Saudi King Salman to Cairo in which he met with Egyptian President Sissi and signed several economic agreements, setting up a US$16 billion investment fund.
Egyptian political satirist, Bassem Youssef, who started the #Awadsoldhisland hashtag in Arabic, wrote a tweet saying: “Come on Pasha, an island will cost you a billion, a pyramid will cost two billion and you’ll get two statues thrown in as a gift.”
ANALYSIS:
From Tunisia to Syria: Unfortunate Failure of the Arab Spring
The current Egyptian government came to power following a coup in 2013 orchestrated by Sissi, then the head of the military, against the first-democratically elected president of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi, after the latter was in power for less than a year.
The coup was supported by several Persian Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who within weeks of the coup sent more than US$8 billion to the coup regime.
Sissi ran for president in 2014 and won by a striking 92 percent of the vote, reverting the country back to pre-uprising times and autocratic military rule.
He has been accused of clamping down on dissent and opposition to his policies by banning political parties, cracking down on independent media, and throwing thousands of activists in prison.
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