Talking to Egyptian Ambassador to the UAE, Tamer Mansour, in Abu Dhabi on Monday, Shaikh Abdullah said that the relations between the two countries are strategic and are based on solid ground.
He said the Egyptian government should follow up on these unfounded and slanderous fabrications which do not serve the fraternal relationship between the two sisterly countries.
They also discussed the fraternal relations between the two countries and Shaikh Abdullah thanked the ambassador for his efforts to promote these relations. He expressed his wishes of success for the Egyptian government in its assignments. Shaikh Abdullah stressed the UAE’s unwavering commitment to its principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other states.
Oppn calls for mass protests
Meanwhile, Egypt’s opposition is calling for mass protests on Tuesday after Islamists backing President Mohammed Mursi claimed victory in the first round of a referendum it alleges was riddled with polling violations.
The opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front, urged Egyptians to “take to the streets on Tuesday to defend their freedoms, prevent fraud and reject the draft constitution” ahead of the next round of voting on Saturday.
It claimed “irregularities and violations” marred the initial stage of the referendum last weekend across half of Egypt that Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood said resulted in a 57 per cent “yes” vote, according to its unofficial tally.
The official count will be given after the other half of the country goes to the polls in the second round.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the Front’s coordinator and a Nobel Prize laureate, renewed his call for Mursi to cancel the referendum and enter talks with the opposition. “Last chance: Cancel the ill-reputed referendum and begin a dialogue to close the rift, and (appoint) a capable government that can administer, and bring back the state of law,” he wrote on Twitter.
A spokesman for ElBaradei’s group said the comment was not a call to boycott the second round.
Large protests both for and against the proposed constitution have been staged over the past three weeks, sparking several violent clashes and revealing deep divisions in Egyptian society over Mursi’s rule.
Some 250,000 soldiers and police have been mobilised to ensure security during the two-stage referendum.
The opposition says the constitution weakens human rights, especially those of women, and undermines the independence of judges while strengthening the hand of the military.
Many analysts believe that the lack of consensus over the current draft constitution is dragging Egypt into a prolonged political conflict.
The opposition claims that Saturday’s first round of the referendum, which took place in the biggest cities of Cairo and Alexandria and in eight other regions, had numerous violations.
Those included monitors not being allowed into some polling stations, judges not present in all as required and some fake judges employed, and women prevented in some cases from casting their ballot.
Several Egyptian human rights and monitoring groups said on Sunday that the irregularities meant the first round should be held again.
