UAE funded Egyptian anti-Morsi group, leaked conversation suggests

UAE funded Egyptian anti-Morsi group, leaked conversation suggests
Egyptian military officials discuss UAE-created account for Tamarrod movement, which led protests against Mohamed Morsi's presidency before the military coup.

2 min read
02 March, 2015
This picture shows UAE foreign minister and the founders of Tamarrod [released on social media]
The UAE funded the Egyptian military's intelligence unit and the anti-Mohamed Morsi Tamarrod movement, according to leaked conversations between Egyptian officials.

The leaks were broadcast on Sunday on Mekammeleen, a Turkey-based satellite television channel known for its support of Morsi.

The network said one conversation, purportedly between General Abbas Kamel and Colonel Sedki Sobhi, proved the UAE's role. "Tomorrow we will need 200,000 [Egyptian pounds] from Tamarrod's account," Kamel told Sobhi, "you know, the one opened by the UAE."

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"You know that the UAE transfers money to both the [military] intelligence and Tamarrod. No, you mean the five from the intelligence?" Kamel continued.

The Tamarrod movement led mass protests against the Muslim Brotherhood-backed Morsi in 2013, which ultimately ended in a coup by the army and the ascendency of former army chied Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to the presidency.

After Morsi's overthrow, pictures emerged of the UAE foreign minister, Abdullah bin Zayed, with Tamarrod founders Mahmoud Badr and Mohammad Abdul Aziz. 

The leaked conversations also appear to suggest Sisi's and the UAE's support of Khalifa Haftar in Libya, a general opposed to Islamists in Libya and their supporting militias.

In a leaked telephone conversation between Sisi and Kamel, Kamel says: "Ali Zeidan [former Libyan prime minister] wants to come as soon as possible. Yes, sir, Ali Zeidan from Libya. He wants to come in a high-level visit to Mahmoud Hegazi [the Egyptian army's chief of staff], because he says he is fed up with the situation in Libya."

"A plane carrying a shipment that is already paid for is arriving tomorrow from the UAE," Kamel says. "A C17 [a large cargo plane], but I am not sure about the contents, and I am trying to contact them to find out."

The network said the shipment contained weapons heading for Libya, although this cannot be independetly verified by al-Araby al-Jadeed.

This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.