The Egyptian government vowed to avenge the slaying of its top envoy in Iraq as it tried to fend off sharp criticism at home Tuesday, including accusations it didn't do enough to save the diplomat killed by Al Qaeda-linked militants. Egypt's top pro-government newspapers carried banner headlines quoting President Hosni Mubarak saying, "Egypt does not forget its sons," and promising to take care of the family of Ihab Sherif. They showed prominent photos of the foreign minister meeting with Sherif's wife, wearing a white veil and black dress.
On Egyptian television on Monday, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit vowed to "take vengeance on the killers of the head of the Egyptian mission in Iraq." Though he did not specify how Egypt could take action, it was an unusually aggressive statement for a government that has refrained from vocal criticism of the insurgency in Iraq. Sherif's slaying, announced by a statement last week by Al Qaeda in Iraq, stunned many in Egypt, where opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq is high. Al Qaeda in Iraq said it abducted the envoy and condemned him to death as an "apostate" because his government intended to install a full ambassador in Baghdad as a sign of support for Iraq's new government.
Mubarak's government has faced an onslaught of criticism in the opposition press, denouncing it for knuckling under US pressure to send an ambassador despite the continuing violence in Iraq and accusing it of not doing enough to save Sherif's life. The Araby and Osboa weekly newspapers proclaimed in red-letter headlines that "the government bears sole responsibility for the spilling of Sherif's blood." "The Egyptian foreign minister refused to cut his visit to Libya, he dealt with the issue in an irresponsible way, the Egyptian government refused to declare a state of mourning or even half-mast the flags and all what it did was four lines lamenting the martyr," Mustafa Bakri, editor-in-chief of Osboa said in a front-page editorial.
With Mubarak heading into September presidential elections — in which he will face competition for the first time — his government has tried to turn off the heat over the diplomat's slaying. It proclaimed Sherif a "martyr" — even though Al Qaeda in Iraq did not release a video showing the diplomat's killing and his body has yet to be found. Mubarak spoke to Sherif's family twice. "I am personally taking care of the family of Sherif," government papers quoted him as saying, and Abou Gheit held a strongly publicised meeting with his wife to express condolences.
Aboul Gheit also took pains to point out that Sherif had not been appointed ambassador in Iraq and that Egypt does not have a full embassy there. Sherif's credentials, with the title of chief of mission, "prove the falsity of what has been said by some concerning an upgrade in the level of representation and the establishment of an Egyptian embassy in Iraq and the conduct of full diplomatic relations," Aboul Gheit told the state-run Middle East News Agency. "These are nothing more than inflammatory and can't be characterised as truthful or ethical," he added. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari announced during an international conference in Brussels last month that Egypt had decided to become the first Arab country to send a full ambassador to Iraq under the new government elected in January. Though Egypt never confirmed or denied the announcement, Aboul Gheit was among the delegates at the conference and voiced no objection to Zebari remarks. Many believed that Sherif, sent to Baghdad in early June, was paving the way for a full ambassador posting. |