Manama: Egypt’s President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi is in Saudi Arabia for talks with the country’s new king ahead of a conference aimed at shoring up financial support from wealthy Gulf states for Cairo’s battered economy.
A Saudi official says the two leaders will also be discussing Al Sissi’s proposal for a joint anti-terrorism military force. In an interview before departing to Saudi Arabia, Al Sissi said that Arabs should work together to establish a pan-Arab army to protect the Arab countries from the threats lurking in the region.
“There is a now a great opportunity for the Arab countries to form a strong force to protect themselves from all enemies,” Al Sissi said in a television interview.
The Egyptian leader said that the army would not be used to attack other countries and insisted that it would not be used for any form of invasion or occupation.
“We do not intent to use the Arab army to attack anyone. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has no plans to attack anyone, and we do not have the desire to attack anyone, either. We want to protect our security and defend our nations,” he said. ‘When we see the threats lurking around us, we realize this is the most appropriate time to work together to confront the threats from the plots targeting us.”
Al Sissi who started floating the idea of the Arab army last month said that the proposal had been shared with several countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Jordan.
Talks included sharing ideas about the shape and formation of the army and ways to achieve the goals of ensuring the security of the member countries, he said.
The Egyptian leader, who has been in power since July, said that Jordan’s King Abdullah supported the move.
In an interview with the London-based daily Al Sharq Al Awsat, Al Sissi stressed the importance of the Arab army.
“Military maneuvres that bring together Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt as well as sea, air and land joint exercises will certainly help in the protection of our countries and national security. They are not targeting anyone,” he said.
The concept of the Arab army could be one of the topics to be discussed by Arab leaders when they convene for their annual summit later this month, reports said.
Reports said that the idea of forming the Arab army would be discussed in depth by Al Sissi when he is received by King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saudi, on his first visit to the kingdom since the Saudi monarch came to power on January 23 following the death of his brother King Abdullah.
According to Egyptian media, other topics on the agenda of the talks include “the deterioration of the situation in Yemen and the need to correct it in order to avoid negative effects on the security of the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea area.”
Al Ahram daily said that the talks would also “pay special attention to communication and coordination between the two countries at all levels in light of the fierce attacks on the Arab nation and the attempts by extremist groups to exploit internal disputes and the weakness in some countries.”
