Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday ratified an agreement that cedes sovereignty over two uninhabited Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, brushing off widespread public criticism of the deal.
The Red Sea islands accord has become politically sensitive for al-Sisi. He counts on Saudi Arabia as a key ally, but street protests broke out over the agreement last year among Egyptians angered over the concession.
Egypt’s parliament last week backed the deal handing control of the Tiran and Sanafir islands to Saudi Arabia, but it has also become the subject of a legal tussle between different courts over jurisdiction.
“President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has ratified the maritime demarcation agreement between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the Egyptian Cabinet said in a statement.
The presidency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
All court decisions on the agreement were temporarily suspended this week by the constitutional court until it makes a ruling on which institution has the final say.
Parliamentary leaders and government lawyers say the Egyptian House of Representatives is the only entity allowed to rule on sovereignty, but in June last year, the nation’s highest administrative court ruled that Egypt’s sovereignty must stand.
Al-Sisi’s government announced the agreement last year with Saudi Arabia, an ally which has given billions of US dollars of aid to Egypt.
The Egyptian and Saudi governments said the islands are Saudi, but have been subject to Egyptian protection.
After last year’s administrative court ruling, Saudi Arabia temporarily halted fuel shipments to Egypt, part of its aid deal.
At the time, both sides denied any political fallout was involved and relations have since improved.
“The transfer has been a long time coming; Riyadh has made it clear they expect the islands and Cairo agreed,” said H.A. Hellyer, senior non-resident fellow at the US think tank Atlantic Council. “But considering the amount of opposition to the transfer, the speed at which it happened is instructive. It shows Sisi’s administration doesn’t feel there is much of a risk.”
Still, the islands issue touched a patriotic nerve, bringing thousands of protesters to the streets in April, chanting “people want the fall of the regime,” a slogan little heard since the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011.
“Now that the president has ratified it, the agreement is a law,” said Khaled Ali, chief lawyer defending the case for the islands being Egyptian and a former presidential candidate. “So we will continue the legal battle to show that it is unconstitutional and void.”
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