Egypt appoints its ambassador in Khartoum to Israel

Egypt has decided to appoint its ambassador to Sudan, Muhammad Asem Ibrahim, as an ambassador to Israel and he is expected to start his work officially during the coming weeks.

The spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry welcomed Ibrahim's appointment and considered him a first class diplomat. Credentials of the of the new ambassador will be submitted to the Israeli government by the beginning of next week.

Ambassador Asem had worked in the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv following the Camp David agreement in 1978, and worked later in several African countries including Kenya and Ethiopia.

Cairo notified Tel Aviv with the name of its ambassador hours after the arrival of the Jordanian ambassador Marouf al-Bekheit to Israel to practice his role after this post had remained vacant for four years.

Egypt had summoned its ambassador from Israel in November 2000 in protest of the Israeli oppressive measures against the Palestinian uprising.