Special to WorldTribune.com

ABU DHABI — Saudi Arabia has ended its diplomatic presence in Egypt
amid increasing threats by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Officials said the Saudi Foreign Ministry has recalled its staff from
Egypt and closed the embassy and consulates.

The officials said the military regime in Cairo failed to protect Saudi diplomats and installations amid violent protests against the Gulf Arab kingdom.

“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia decided to recall its ambassador to Egypt for consultations and close its embassy in Cairo and its consulates in Alexandria and Suez because of unjustified demonstrations and protests in front of the kingdom’s missions in the Arab republic of Egypt, attempts to storm and threaten the security and safety of Saudi and Egyptian employees, raising hostile slogans and violating the inviolability and sovereignty of the diplomatic missions, which are against all international norms and laws,” an official Saudi statement said on April 28.

The statement, released by the official Saudi Press Agency, said the
Saudi embassy and consulates in Egypt have been disrupted by repeated protests. The protests were said to have stopped the consulates from
providing visas to Egyptians who sought to travel to Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi embassy in Cairo has been the target of the Brotherhood and
Salafist groups since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in February
2011. Violent protests at the embassy and consulates increased after the
arrest of an Egyptian attorney in Saudi Arabia on April 24. The attorney,
Ahmed Al Sayid, had criticized Saudi treatment of Egyptian prisoners and
arrived in Jedda for the annual Muslim pilgrimage. The kingdom contains two
million Egyptian laborers.

Saudi ambassador to Cairo, Ahmed Al Qattan, said Al Sayid, known as Al
Gizawi, arrived in Jedda with 21,380 narcotic pills concealed in baby milk
powder. Brotherhood sources said Al Sayid was actually charged with
insulting Saudi King Abdullah.

Egypt’s military regime, particularly Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi,
has sought to resolve the crisis with Riyad, which earlier promised to
invest $750 million in Egypt. Officials said the military regime was
surprised by the withdrawal of Saudi diplomats.

“Egypt condemns individual actions undertaken by some citizens towards
the embassy of the embassy of sisterly Saudi Arabia, and which do not
express anything other than the opinion of the people who undertook them,”
the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said. “The Egyptian government has all love
and respect for Saudi as a government and people. The Egyptian government
condemns these irresponsible actions which harm the deeply-rooted
Egyptian-Saudi ties.”

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