Egypt criticizes Norway's closure of its embassy in Cairo
Egypt-Norway, Politics, 1/10/2004

The Egyptian foreign minister, Ahmed Maher, has described Norway's decision to close its embassy in Cairo for security reasons as a wrong and unjustified.

Maher said in statements in Cairo that his country does not seek to interfere in any of the decision taken by another state, because this matter is relevant to it, but stresses that Egypt is a secure country and is not threatened by any danger. Maher indicated that Norway was exposed to threats that forced it to close many of its embassies abroad.

On Thursday, the foreign ministry in Norway announced temporary closure of its embassy in Cairo, noting it is analyze the extent of the danger of the threat its diplomatic mission in Cairo faces.

The spokesman for the embassy, Karistin Klibsfik, said that the embassy will not open its doors before Sunday ( tomorrow), at least. He added "we evaluate the level of the threat according to the information we have." He refused to confirm whether Norway's embassy had received a direct threat.

Although Norway did not take part directly in the war against Iraq, however, al-Qaida organization, led by Osama Bin Laden considered it in May to be on the list of countries targeted by its operations.

In a voice recording for the second ranking man in al-Qaida organization, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in May, 2003, he called for striking the interests of certain countries including the Norway's embassies.

Previous Stories:
  Maher, Petersen review regional,international issues   (2/18/2002)
  Mubarak confers with Norway's foreign minister   (2/18/2002)
  Maher receives Norwegian deputy foreign minister   (8/27/2001)

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