Agora

Politiken, Tuesday, February, 14, 2006

Egyptian Embassador reprimanded

The Embassador of Egypt was recently summoned to, and severely criticised for her role in the Muhammed cartoons crisis by the Danish Foreign Ministry.

By Tanja Parker Astrup, Lene Winther and Thomas Flensburg

The Egyptian Embassador Mona Omar Attia was recently summoned to the Danish Foreign Ministry for a verbal spanking of her conduct in the Muhammed crisis.

According to information obtained by Politiken, it had been noted that official representative of Egypt in Denmark had spread rumours in the Middle East that Islam is not an officially recognized religion in order to inflame Arabian anger against Denmark.

19 Islamic Denominations are recognized by the Danish State.

Confirmation by Foreign Ministry

The Ministry confirms that the embassador "recently" had been summoned to the ministry for a talk with Chief of Protocol Christopher Bo Bramsen who handles relations to the embassadors.

The Ministry has no information regarding what was said, or the cause of the summons.

The Imams bear responsibility

The government has so far blamed the Danish Imams who went on a disinformation tour of the Middle East for the ruckus, but apparently Egypt was central in the campaign to malign Denmark.

The Liberal spokesman for Foreign Affairs, Troels Lund Poulsen, maintains that the Imams bear the greater part of the blame.

"It wasn’t until the Imams joined in that this became a problem. I recognize that other entities may have played a part but the the Imams must shoulder the heavier part of the responsibility," he says.

Arabs nations surprised

Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller of the Conservatives point to the fact that the strife had been settled politically but religious parties made it escalate regardless.

"The leaders of the Arab world were surprised too," the Minister says.

The Egyptian Embassador couldn’t be reached for comments.