Page 9 - Aruba Today

WORLD NEWS 9
Friday 8 April 2016

Saudi King Salman arrives in Egypt
to official fanfare and high hopes

BRIAN ROHAN From left: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar
AYA BATRAWY Mammadyarov and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov shake hands in Baku, Azerbaijan on
Associated Press Thursday, April 7, 2016.
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt welcomed Saudi Arabia’s monarch
on a landmark visit to the Arab world’s most populous (AP Photo)
country on Thursday, with Cairo seeking to boost ties and
garner deals to prop up the nation’s shaky economy de- Nagorno-Karabakh:
spite some persistent divisions with the Sunni powerhouse.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi greeted King Truce in trouble as Russia, Iran join talks
Salman with a kiss as the monarch descended from his
jumbo jet on an escalator, flanked by lancers and dozens AIDA SULTANOVA ficially a part of Azerbaijan, given it weapons in a bid to
of Saudi and Egyptian officials. Two children in Saudi dress Associated Press under the control of local shore up its influence in the
were held up to the king, who later headed to the presi- BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — ethnic Armenian forces Caucasus region, a con-
dential palace for a troop review kicked off with howitzer Azerbaijan and Armenia and the Armenian military. duit for energy resources
fire. Behind the scenes, Salman is likely to press Egypt for on Thursday accused each Armenian forces also oc- from the Caspian Sea to
concrete support for the king’s attempts to contain Shiite other of violating a two- cupy several areas outside the West.
nemesis Iran and contribute more to further Saudi foreign day-old cease-fire in Nago- the Karabakh region. Russia also has acted as
policy goals. Despite Riyadh’s major support for Egypt un- rno-Karabakh, while Russia Azerbaijan’s Defense Minis- a mediator in the Nago-
der el-Sissi, Cairo has done little in return. and Iran joined diplomatic try has said 31 of its soldiers rno-Karabakh peace talks
Shadi Hamid, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, efforts to prevent a war have been killed since Sat- along with the United
said the Saudis have clearly grown impatient with Cairo, that could destabilize the urday; Karabakh has ac- States and France, which
which has made only weak contributions to the Saudi-led strategic Caucasus region. knowledged the loss of 30 have dragged on since
offensive against Shiite rebels in Yemen and has refused Azerbaijan’s Defense Min- and said 101 others have 1994 without any visible re-
to demand Syrian President Bashar Assad step down. istry said its troops returned been wounded. Each sults.
Egypt is simultaneously cultivating closer ties with Russia, fire after Armenian forces party put enemy losses in But Russian Prime Minis-
a major backer of Assad. fired mortars and large-cal- the hundreds, claims that ter Dmitry Medvedev said
“We see the el-Sissi regime as going rogue,” Hamid said. iber machine guns at Azer- couldn’t be independently Thursday after a meeting
“It shows a certain, you can say confidence, over-con- baijani military positions verified. Several civilians with his Armenian coun-
fidence, recklessness, but that’s not normally what you and populated areas. The also have been killed on terpart that “there is no
would expect in this sort of relationship, considering how Armenian side accused both sides. alternative to the current
important the Saudis have been as a source of support.” Azerbaijan of shelling its The fighting has raised fears mechanism” for negotiat-
El-Sissi’s office stressed the importance of Salman’s visit, positions. of a possible regional esca- ing an end to the dispute,
his first to Egypt since ascending to the throne last year, The intense skirmishes have lation, with Turkey strongly which is under the auspices
insisting that the two countries must increase cooperation threatened to derail the backing Azerbaijan and of the Organization for Se-
in order to strengthen security in the turbulent Middle East. Russia-brokered cease-fire Russia obliged by a mutual curity and Cooperation in
Saudi Arabia is one of the top foreign investors in Egypt, declared at midday Tues- security pact to protect Ar- Europe.
with more than $8 billion pledged late last year in sectors day following the worst vio- menia. It was not clear whether
such as tourism, agriculture and information technology. lence since a separatist war Russia also has sought to that stance would margin-
The oil-rich kingdom has also promised to help the coun- ended in 1994. That conflict maintain friendly ties with alize Iran’s role. q
try meet its energy needs. left Nagorno-Karabakh, of- energy-rich Azerbaijan and
Riyadh has helped bankroll el-Sissi’s government since
the Egyptian leader — then army chief — ousted a divi-
sive Islamist predecessor, Mohammed Morsi, in 2013, giv-
ing billions of dollars in aid, grants and cash deposits to
help buoy the country’s economy. Egypt has faced years
of political upheaval since a 2011 pro-democracy upris-
ing that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak sent foreign re-
serves tumbling and slowed economic growth, and has
grown dependent on the aid, although it says it seeks to
wean itself off it.
While the two Arab nations are at odds over the wars in
Syria, Iraq and Yemen, public admonishments are rare
and they seem never to tire from extolling what they call
their historic relations, strategic partnership and common
goals.
Saudi columnist Khalid al-Dakhil urged Cairo to reject
“sectarian militias” that threaten Arab states — a refer-
ence to Iranian-backed Shiite militias such as Hezbollah
in Lebanon, which Saudi Arabia recently declared a ter-
rorist group. q