CAIRO - Although neither Cairo nor Riyadh has issued statements about this, Egypt has ridiculed claims that the Saudi royal family is ready to pay a very high price for the criminal charges levelled against the ex-president Hosni Mubarak, his wife and their two sons to be dropped. Mubarak and his sons have been detained, suspected of the abuse of power, corruption and other crimes. The former president and his younger son, Gamal, whom he was grooming to succeed him, also face charges of ordering the killing of hundreds of demonstrators in Al Tahrir Square in Cairo and other cities, during the recent revolution. Cairo and Riyadh must be very sure that these rumours have been fanned by elements wanting to drive a wedge between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, two of the Middle East's heavyweights. Over the past 50 years, Cairo and Riyadh have jointly led joint Arab action. The time-honoured relationship between the two countries was recently strengthened when Saudi King Abdullah Ibn Abdel-Aziz, the Custodian of the Two Holy Shrines, announced he would give $4 billion in aid to Egypt to help it overcome its post-revolution crisis. The aid is in the form of long-term loans and grants, to help revive the national economy and stimulate investment projects. In acknowledging the Saudi government's gesture, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, thanked the Custodian of the Two Holy Shrines for his country's undivided support for Egypt. The Saudi move must have silenced the cynical voices trying to stir things up between these two Arab heavyweights.
