A few hours before the conclusion of a successful five-day visit by the Saudi king to Egypt, the Egyptian Council of Ministers issued a statement regarding the maritime border agreement between the two countries. It stated: “The signing of the agreement on the demarcation of the maritime boundaries between the two countries was an important achievement as it will enable the two countries to take advantage of their own particular economic area and the wealth and resources therein which will benefit their respective economies. “This achievement is the fruit of long and arduous work that lasted over six years, during which the Maritime Border Demarcation Committee convened eleven rounds of meetings, the last three of which took place since December 2015, following the signing of the Cairo Declaration on 30 July 2015. “The committee, in its work, relied on Presidential Decree 27 for 1990 concerning the identification of the basic Egyptian coordinates to measure territorial waters and the economic zone that solely belongs to the Arab Republic of Egypt. The Egyptian government notified the UN of this decree on 2 May 1990. The committee also relied on the exchanges of letters between the two countries during the same period, in addition to the Royal Decree of 2010 regarding the identification of the basic coordinates for these matters with respect to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. “It is worth noting that the technical experts on the committee used the latest scientific methods to pinpoint coordinates and measure distances so as to finalise the drawing of the midway line between the two countries with the highest degrees of accuracy. As a result of the technical drawing of the border line, in accordance with the abovementioned royal and presidential decrees, the islands of Sanafir and Tiran fall within the territorial waters of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. “It is worth mentioning that, in January 1950, King Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud had asked Egypt to undertake the protection of the two islands. Egypt responded to this request and has furnished protection for the two islands since that time. The signature and ratification of the agreement will enable the Arab Republic of Egypt to benefit from the purely economic zone in the Red Sea and the opportunities this has opened for the exploration and excavation of additional natural resources for the country. “The maritime border demarcation agreement between Egypt and Saudi Arabia will be submitted to the House of Representatives for discussion and ratification in accordance with the currently effective legal and constitutional procedures.” The statement, which acted as an official recognition by the Egyptian government of Saudi Arabia's title to Tiran and Sanafir, sent shockwaves through Egyptian society that can still be felt today. The government had not even notified the people that negotiations were in progress with Saudi Arabia over the designation of the maritime borders, and had been in progress for a long time. It never published a list of the Egyptian members on that Maritime Border Designation Committee which, according to the Egyptian cabinet statement, had been working for six years. Therefore, that “six years” reference in the statement seemed like a flagrant attempt to evade responsibility for relinquishing territory that is widely believed to be Egyptian and that was treated as such in the 1979 peace accord with Israel. It was as though the government were saying that the decision to negotiate over the ownership of the two islands dates from the Mubarak era and, therefore, has nothing to do with the current regime. Since the Egyptian people did not believe this, they made one of two presumptions in order to explain their government's behaviour. The first holds that Saudi Arabia applied immense pressure on the government to recover two islands that Riyadh regards as Saudi property. It argues that Riyadh took advantage of Egypt's current economic crisis and the Egyptian government caved in. The second holds that the Egyptian government volunteered to give up the two islands as a way to express its gratitude for the assistance Saudi Arabia gave Egypt to help restore stability following the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood regime on 3 July 2013. Proponents of this view add that perhaps the move was also inspired by the desire to encourage Riyadh to give more of such assistance in the future. A New York Times article appearing on 10 April beneath the headline, “Egypt Gives Saudi Arabia 2 Islands in a Show of Gratitude”, seems to confirm this notion. To make matters worse, some news websites reported that Egypt would obtain $2 billion a year in exchange for giving up the islands plus 25 per cent of the value of the oil or gas recovered from the area. Saudi Ambassador to Egypt Ahmed Qatan was quick to refute the charge that Riyadh had twisted Egypt's arm to obtain the two islands. In fact, he went even further. On 11 April, the Gulf Affairs website reported him as saying, “The Egyptians should not hold Saudi Arabia responsible for the crisis that occurred because of the Tiran and Sanafir islands. To all Egyptians, I say that Egypt proposed this to us.” He continued, “We did not have any documents pertaining to the two islands. The Egypt government made the proposition and gave us documents confirming that the two islands were the property of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. If you want to know more about this subject, ask your government.” As Egyptian public opinion is convinced that their government surrendered sovereign rights, regardless of whether this occurred under pressure at a time of economic straits or out of gratitude for Saudi assistance and perhaps the desire for more, it was only natural that the public would feel outraged. This said, the crisis over the Tiran and Sanafir raises many questions, especially coming as it does at a time when hopes are greater than ever for the possibility of halting the disarray in the Arab world through an Egyptian-Saudi alliance capable of forming the core of a drive to rebuild the regional order on new foundations. Certainly, there are many local, regional and international parties that do not want this alliance to exist and that are working to undermine it. Therefore, both Egypt and Saudi Arabia should work together and use all available means to safeguard their emergent alliance, which they should not link to the question of maritime boundaries. Simultaneously, they should forge ahead with implementation of the protocols they concluded for cooperation in various fields. With regard to the maritime border agreement itself, the two governments need to handle this with the utmost wisdom as they pursue the following steps: - The Egyptian government should submit the agreement to the House of Representatives in accordance with the relevant constitutional provisions. - Before discussing the agreement, parliament should create a committee to solicit the opinions of the most competent technical experts in all relevant disciplines and from all perspectives so that the members of the House will be as informed as possible on the historical, geographical, political, strategic and security facts by the time the agreement comes up for a vote. - In the event that the House approves the agreement, the Egyptian government should then bring it to a plebiscite. Even if it believes that it is not constitutionally obliged to take this step, this will protect it from any attempt to challenge the constitutionality of the agreement in the future. - If, on the other hand, the House refuses to ratify the agreement and if, in this event, the Saudi government objects, the Egyptian government should enter into negotiations with Saudi Arabia to agree on how to resolve the dispute. Whether they opt for international arbitration or the World Court, they should pledge in advance to abide by the decision of the arbitrating authority or court. Laying solid foundations for the strategic relationship between Egypt and Saudi Arabia must be given the highest priority on the agendas of both countries and their peoples at this particularly critical time in the history of the region. It is essential that they take the greatest pains not to let anything harm this process, even a difference over title to land or other such sovereign concerns. All differences can and should be resolved peacefully, especially when they arise between two sister countries of the stature of Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The writer is a professor of political science at Cairo University.
