Egypt’s iconic Cairo Tower lit up in maroon Dec. 18 to have a good time Qatar’s Nationwide Day, within the newest signal of improving relations between the 2 nations after years of political rift.
A video revealed by the Qatari Embassy in Cairo confirmed the famed Nile-side landmark lit up with the Gulf state’s flag colours with an illumination studying in Arabic “The Nationwide Day of the State of Qatar.”
Hani Shawki, director of public relations at Cairo Tower, mentioned the Qatari Embassy requested to light up the long-lasting tower with Qatar’s flag colours in celebration of the nation’s nationwide event.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi additionally sent a cable to Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to greet him on the Gulf state’s nationwide event. Sisi additionally dispatched his presidential secretary to the Qatari Embassy in Cairo to supply greetings.
It’s the first time Egypt has lighted the landmark in central Cairo to have a good time Qatar’s Nationwide Day, which marks the unification of the Gulf nation in 1878 beneath Sheikh Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani. The event has been celebrated yearly since 2007.
“That is an Egyptian message that Egypt has turned the web page of discord with Qatar,” Hussein Haridy, a former assistant overseas minister for Arab affairs, informed Al-Monitor. “It additionally reveals that Cairo has opened a brand new web page in its relationship with Doha.”
Egypt’s relations with Qatar deteriorated following the overthrow of Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Qatar was a essential backer of the Brotherhood and supplied refuge to a whole bunch of members of the Islamist motion, which Egypt blacklisted in 2013.
Relations between the 2 nations nosedived additional in 2017 when Egypt joined Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in severing diplomatic and commerce relations with Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting terrorist teams, an accusation vehemently denied by Qatar.
The relationship started to enhance earlier this 12 months after the 2 nations signed a reconciliation settlement throughout the Gulf Cooperation Council summit in al-Ula, Saudi Arabia, in January.
The development in Egyptian-Qatari relations culminated in August with the mutual appointment of ambassadors. In the identical month, Sisi and Tamim additionally met for the primary time throughout a regional summit in Iraq.
Haridy believes that years of political rift between Egypt and its Gulf allies and Qatar have been stuffed with classes for all sides.
“All of them realized that neither earlier insurance policies nor the boycott had served their pursuits,” the previous diplomat mentioned. “All of them now perceive that it’s higher for them to handle their disputes by diplomatic channels as a substitute of dragging themselves into confrontations or boycott.”
Final month, Salem Mubarak al-Shafi, the Qatari ambassador in Cairo, mentioned the Egyptian-Qatari relations have been shifting in the suitable route.
“There are severe steps and a mutual want by each nations to reinforce their cooperation, flip the web page of the previous and overcome the factors of variations,” he mentioned.
Within the first fruits of the warming relations between the 2 Arab nations, the state-owned QatarEnergy signed an settlement this month to accumulate a 17 p.c stake in two Shell-operated concessions in Egypt’s Purple Sea area.
QatarEnergy chairman and CEO Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi mentioned the deal represents the corporate’s “entry into the Arab Republic of Egypt’s well-established upstream oil and gas sector and provides a chance for the consortium companions to discover this frontier acreage.”
“It didn’t serve the pursuits of Egypt or the Gulf to go away Qatar to regional powers like Turkey and Iran,” Mokhtar Ghobashi, deputy director of the Arab Middle for Political and Strategic Research, informed Al-Monitor.
He mentioned Qatar is a wealthy nation “that should be saved within the Arab fold and away from the arms of regional rivals.”
On Dec. 12, Egypt and the GCC, of which Qatar is a member, launched a mechanism for political coordination between the 2 sides.
Talking in a press convention in Riyadh, Overseas Minister Sameh Shoukry mentioned Egypt was coordinating with the GCC nations on all regional points. “The safety of the Arabian Gulf is an integral a part of the safety of each Egypt and the Arab world,” he mentioned.
GCC Secretary-Common Nayaf bin Al-Hajraf mentioned Egypt is the pillar of safety and stability within the area.
“The rift between Egypt and its Gulf allies and Qatar have fractured the GCC and undermined its function,” Ghobashi mentioned.
He continued, “There may be an appreciation for Egypt’s weight and its assist to the Arab world and the fence-mending between Egypt and Qatar serves in cementing the Gulf function and boosting its function.”
