Egypt’s ambassador to London Nasser Kamel sent a letter to British newspaper The Guardian in response to an article published on 20 October pertaining to Egypt’s vote in the United Nations security council, state-owned media said Sunday.
On 8 October, Egypt voted on two different resolutions for a peace solution in Syria. The first was filed by France and the other by Russia; however, both draft resolutions failed to be adopted by the security council as they were vetoed. Following the vote, Egypt’s envoy to the UN security council Amr Aboul Atta said that the two resolutions covered key points that will lead to a ceasefire in Syria.
In the letter by Kamel to The Guardian, he said that their article included false information regarding Egypt’s vote. The Guardian wrote: “Egypt shocked its financial backer Saudi Arabia by voting with the Russians to block a French UN security council draft resolution on Syria.”
However, Kamel said that Egypt did not vote against the French revolution, but rather voted in favour of the two resolutions owing to their coverage of key points.
Kamel also said in his letter that The Guardian claimed Saudi oil company Aramco halted its oil supply to Egypt in light of its vote for the Russian resolution. Kamel countered this by saying that Aramco’s decision came before Egypt voted in the security council.
The Guardian wrote regarding Aramco’s decision: “The next day [following the vote] Riyadh suspended its oil aid to Egypt—estimated at 700,000 tonnes of petroleum products every month.”
Kamel concluded his letter by saying that he hopes the British newspaper will take the points he mentioned into consideration if it wishes to change its biased approach in covering events pertaining to Egypt. He also said that he hopes it publishes his letter in a show of transparency.
Egypt’s vote in the UN security council in favour of the Russian resolution stirred controversy as the latter is known for its supportive stance towards Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad. Russia, moreover, carried out airstrikes in Syria’s city of Aleppo, reportedly resulting in thousands of deaths among civilians.
