“The (interim) Interior Minister (General Mohamed Ibrahim) had asked me to mediate military support from UAE to the security forces,” Ahmad Shafiq, who served as the last prime minister under ex-Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, said earlier this week.

“I did and the UAE immediately sent arms and equipment to fight terrorism. The UAE has contracted more arms to support the Egyptian Interior Ministry,” he added.

Shafiq also said, “The minute they (UAE officials) felt that the Egyptian Interior Ministry was changing and might be in need of assistance, they called me to affirm they would make every assistance available.”

Shafiq also confirmed that Saudi Arabia assisted Egypt following the ouster of Morsi, the first democratically elected head of state in the July military coup d'état, saying, “Despite all Saudi assistance, the UAE has done more, even more things than people know.”

Meanwhile, on September 9, Shafiq said he would support Army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi -- who ousted Morsi -- if he runs for president in an election expected to be held in 2014.

On July 5, the Muslim Brotherhood's supreme guide Mohamed Badie said the move against Morsi was illegal and millions would remain on the streets until the reinstatement of the ousted president.

The army-appointed government has launched a bloody crackdown on Morsi supporters ever since his ouster and arrested more than 2,000 Brotherhood members, including Badie, who was detained on August 20.

About 1,000 people were killed in a week of clashes between Morsi supporters and security forces after police dispersed their protest camps in a fatal crackdown on August 14.

The massacre sparked international condemnation and prompted world bodies to call for an independent investigation into the violence.

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