Jerusalem, Jan. 1 (AP): There’s a royal stink on the Israel-Jordan border.

The Jordanian monarch, Abdullah II, has complained of bovine odours coming from the Israeli side of the frontier along the countries’ shared southern border, Israel’s environment minister said today.

Speaking to Israel radio, Gideon Ezra said the smells, from a livestock quarantine facility, were blown across the frontier toward the king’s palace in the town of Aqaba, on the Red Sea next to the Israeli town of Eilat. Jordanian officials contacted Israel last week and requested the odours be neutralised, Ezra said.

Jordan and Israel signed a peace agreement in 1994 and now enjoy close ties. In response to the complaint, Israel has ordered the owners of the facility — where imported livestock is held in quarantine — to clean up large amounts of animal waste that had built up at the site.