Saudi envoy to Egypt denies Kingdom offered Salafis billions. By Randa Abul Azm

The Saudi ambassador to Egypt has denied newspaper reports alleging that the Kingdom was providing funds estimated in billions to Muslim Salafi groups in Egypt.

“If we take a look at the Kingdom’s wise strategy, under the leadership of King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, we would automatically realize that this is not the nature of the Saudi leadership,” Ambassador Ahmed Abdul Aziz told Al Arabiya in an exclusive interview.


“On the other hand, we have to ask what would Saudi Arabia benefit by offering such huge funds ($4 billion) to any group, unless some might think that the Kingdom deliberately wants to spread sectarian tension. This is completely untrue, simply because the stability of Egypt is part of Saudi Arabia’s stability and vice versa,” the Saudi diplomat said.

The ambassador emphasized that Saudi-Egyptian relations would always be strong and firm.

In the interview, he also denied rumors that Saudi Arabia was pushing for preventing the trial of former president Hosni Mubarak. He underlined that the Kingdom’s relationship with the former president had been halted since he stepped down on February 11.

“All relations with former president Mubarak were halted. If we take a look at the Saudi history, we would find out that the Kingdom had dealt with King Farouk, late President Gamal Abdel Nasser and late President Anwar El-Sadat. We never link our relations to Cairo with Mubarak’s trial,” he said.

When asked about a report published by Egypt’s Al Akhbar newspaper alleging that Mr. Mubarak had visited the Saudi city of Tabouk three times after he stepped down, the Saudi diplomat said: “I think if Mubarak had gone to Saudi Arabia, he wouldn’t have returned again.”