CAIRO/BAGHDAD, 9 July 2005 — Egypt said yesterday it will cut staff at its mission in Baghdad and will reconsider its decision to send a new ambassador to Iraq after its top diplomat was killed.
Meanwhile, Iraq urged fellow Arab and Muslim states to send ambassadors in defiance of attacks by Al-Qaeda insurgents.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Aboul Ghait said the reduction was to protect staff at the mission after Al-Qaeda in Iraq said it had killed top envoy Ihab Al-Sherif.
“Egypt will reduce the number of personnel at its diplomatic mission in Baghdad,” Aboul Ghait told reporters. “This reduction will take place given current circumstances and for a set period of time,” he added.
But Iraq’s Foreign Ministry appealed to Arab and Islamic countries not to be swayed by the kidnapping and killing of Sherif, which it said was meant to deter them from upgrading their diplomatic missions in Iraq.
“Arab and Islamic countries are asked to prove their seriousness in combating terrorism and send their ambassadors to Baghdad so they send the right message to the terrorists.” Iraq’s president promised top security for diplomats and Interior Minister Bayan Jabr, who has chided envoys for traveling without protection, said Iraqi armed escorts were always available.
A US general said the US military was discussing plans with the Iraqi government under which American and other troops could help protect diplomats in Baghdad.
“I’m not sure that, in the end, it will result in US forces directly guarding some of those diplomats,” Maj. Gen. William Webster told reporters in Washington by teleconference.
“We have not finalized our plan yet. But we certainly recognize we’ve got to do something very quickly,” Webster, commander of multinational forces in the Baghdad area, said.
Police were hunting Sherif’s killers, a day after Cairo confirmed his death at the hands of Al-Qaeda kidnappers. He had been snatched off a Baghdad street on Saturday.
“Our investigations are continuing,” a senior Interior Ministry official said.
The militants posted a video showing Sherif speaking but not his killing. The Iraqi government has described the abduction and killing of Sherif as part of attempts by insurgents to isolate the new, US-backed government.
— With input from agencies
