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| Iraq |
| Egypt appoints ambassador to Iraq |
| 2009-06-17 |
| CAIRO — Egypt appointed a new ambassador to Baghdad Tuesday, ending a four year hiatus after Cairo’s chief envoy to Iraq was kidnapped and killed by al-Qaida, said a government spokesman. The president named career diplomat Sherif Kamal Chahine, the current envoy to Zambia, to the post, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki, without elaborating on when the appointment would take effect. Zaki said the move would restore “vitality and strength” to bilateral ties. After the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the post-Saddam Hussein government struggled to build ties with other Arab nations. Several have since named ambassadors to Baghdad, reflecting growing Arab acceptance of Iraq’s Shiite-led government that also has close ties with Iran. Iraq’s deputy foreign minister Labid Abbawi said five other Arab countries have named ambassadors to Baghdad — Kuwait, Syria, Jordan, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates — while five others have charge d’affaires. |
| Posted by:Steve White |