Egypt Summons UAE Envoy On Police Chief’s Comments

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassador of the United Arab Emirates on Thursday after comments made by Dubai’s chief of police that the ministry described as being against Egypt, state-run media reported.

Gulf monarchies such as the UAE have been wary of the rise of Islamists in Egypt and other states in the wake of the Arab Spring for fear that it will stir up Islamist groups and dissent on their turf.

Egypt’s official news agency MENA said the envoy to Cairo was summoned to request “clarification from the United Arab Emirates about statements that do not go along with the nature of the special relationship between the two countries”.

It said the statements, made on Twitter, were an “attack on Egypt”, without citing the remarks that caused the offence.

State-run newspaper Al-Ahram’s website said Egypt was responding to Dubai police chief Dahi Khalfan who made comments about Egypt on Twitter after Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi won the presidential election.

“If they tried to shake the security of the Gulf, bloodshed will be up to their knees,” Khalfan said, according to the tweet reported by Al-Ahram which was no longer on Twitter.

In other tweets, also after Morsi’s win was announced, he said: “An unfortunate choice. The repercussions of this choice will not be light for poor ordinary people.”