RIYADH, 10 August 2005 — The US Embassy, which was closed for business during the past two days will reopen today, the embassy announced here yesterday.
During their two-day closure, consular and visa services at the other missions in the Diplomatic Quarter were at their usual levels.
Two entrances at the Diplomatic Quarter, which houses more than 40 foreign missions, were heavily guarded. Streams of vehicles going to the enclave were thoroughly checked at the entry points.
“It took a long time to pass through the check point,” a motorist who returned from the high security area said, admitting that these checks are being carried out only in the public interest.
Work inside the Diplomatic Quarter was reported as about normal for a weekday. A spokesman from the British embassy said the mission received the regular number of visitors for consular and visa work. “Everything was perfect except for the heat,” the spokesman quipped.
A spokesman at the Australian Embassy told Arab News that from time to time, the mission makes a call for the new comers to register themselves with the Australian Embassy.
The present call for its citizens to register is not related to the revised security warning issued to the citizens.
A diplomat at the Canadian Embassy said work levels were normal and members of the public who came to the mission were able to get their work done as in other days.
In Washington, the State Department’s Deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said his country is receiving good cooperation from the Saudi government following the temporary closure of the US missions for a period of two days due to terrorist threat.
“It is not just American and American facilities that are targets,” he said, adding that Saudis had also suffered terrorism as well. He said that there is a shared interest in responding to these reports specifically and also in working together broadly to confront and defeat terror in the Kingdom and elsewhere.
The facilities, he said will reopen “when we believe it is prudent to do so.”
“We closed them because there was specific and credible information about an intention to attack our diplomatic facilities. In the light of this information we felt it was necessary to alert our citizens to protect people and US facilities.”
US officials will continue to review available information as well as effective countermeasures that have been taken and then come to a decision about re-opening on that basis. “Saudis understand and share our concerns.”
