How a joke about Sisi’s fridge has strained Cairo-Riyadh ties
The careless slip of a Saudi tongue was enough to anger Egyptians and end the term of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation's secretary-general as Riyadh-Cairo relations deteriorate over regional alliances and halted oil shipments.
Saudi Shura Council head Abdullah Al-Sheikh’s unannounced visit to Cairo on Nov. 3 was apparently Riyadh’s positive response to Gulf mediation efforts to calm tensions between Egypt and Saudi Arabia and to keep their feud out of the media.
Al-Sheikh’s visit was less than a week after the Oct. 31 announcement that Iyad Madani, the Saudi secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), an international organization of 57 Islamic states, had submitted his resignation citing health reasons.
