Leaks reveal Egypt's Sisi 'despises' Gulf countries

A leaked conversation between the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and his office head Abbas Kamel offending some pro-coup Gulf states was broadcasted on Saturday by the Istanbul-based Egyptian satellite TV channel Mekameleen.

The recordings, which allegedly took place sometime after the coup that toppled the elected President Mohamed Morsi on July 3, 2013, and before the coup leader General Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi was elected as president, revealed Sisi's plans to manage the 2013 coup by the financial support of the Gulf countries.

According to the tape, Sisi told Kamel that to ask for 10 billion US dollars as aid from each of; Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and UAE to be transferred to a bank account belonging to the Egyptian army. He also said that some additional donations for the Central Bank were needed, claiming that the Gulf states money are like 'rice', referring to excessive amounts of money the gulf owns.

In the audio, Kamel described the Gulf countries as 'half states' and also launched into a tirade of insults against the Qatari royal family.

After the leaked recordings were broadcasted, the Middle East social media users reacted to the incident that is considered as a scandal using the hashtag السيسي_يحتقر_الخليج# ('Sisi despises Gulf' in Arabic), which had initially trended worldwide.

A number of Gulf figures had also asked their governments to withdraw their ambassadors to Egypt from the country because of the insults by the Egyptian administration.

The Egyptian PM Ibrahim Mahlab made a statement regarding to the leaks, saying that the incident would not negatively affect the morale of the Egyptian people.

"Nobody in Egypt believes the channels of the Muslim Brotherhood. They won't be able to change the situation on the ground," Mahlab told private Al-Hayat TV.