Gulf royalty turns out to welcome Sisi

Gulf states – with the exception of Qatar and Oman – sent high-level royal delegations to the 8 June inauguration of Egypt’s new president, former military chief Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been Sisi’s most ardent backers since he toppled the Muslim Brotherhood government of Mohammed Morsi (GSN 966/3, 951/1), and have portrayed his election landslide as Egypt getting back on track following the Arab Spring. The Saudi delegation to Cairo was headed by Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdelaziz, who was accompanied by King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz’s son, deputy minister for foreign affairs Prince Abdelaziz Bin Abdullah, minister of culture and information Abdelaziz Bin Mohieddin Khoja and other officials. Crown Prince Salman described Sisi’s assumption of power as a “great turning point for Egypt toward security, stability and… sustainable development”, echoing King Abdullah who, in a statement on 3 June, said it was time to “uproot this strange kind of chaos” or risk losing control of “outlaws” – a comment that appears to refer more broadly to the waves of change across the region since late 2010.