President Al-Sisi invited President Ismail Omar Guelleh. Egypt-Saudi tension bubbling over planned Djibouti base.
By TesfaNews,
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt will receive on Monday President of Djibouti، Ismail Omar Guelleh، to conduct bilateral talks between the two countries.
The summit is due to be followed by a joint press conference to talk to the media.
The relationship between Egypt and Djibouti is strong and historical. However, recent plans by Saudi Arabia to establish a military base on the coast of Djibouti have made the Egyptian government suspicious as strained relations between Cairo and Riyadh show little sign of improving.
Egypt in the past has announced that any threat to one country is a threat to the other. For that, both sides are cooperating in the security of the Red Sea.
Egypt considers Djibouti to be under its sphere of influence as its location is so important for its national security.
Egypt is part of the Saudi-led coalition which launched military operations against the Houthis in Yemen after the Shia rebel movement made advances onto the Yemeni south.
The Bab al-Mandeb is located between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, where Djibouti lies and is a crucial strait since it is part of the route that connects the Indian Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea, through the Suez Canal.
Egypt fears that potential Houthi control over Bab al-Mandeb would affect navigation into the Suez Canal, a vital waterway for Egypt which brings in billions of dollars in annual revenues.
That makes the strait strategic both for Egypt and, of course, for worldwide navigation.
