Egyptian envoy to Iraq kidnapped

BAGHDAD – The new Egyptian ambassador to Iraq, Ihab al-Sharif, was kidnapped late on Saturday in Baghdad, just a month after taking up post, an embassy employee and the Iraqi interior ministry said yesterday.

Sharif had been named ambassador on June 1, and was the first ambassador to be kidnapped since the ouster of Saddam Hussein’s regime by US-led troops in April 2003. “I arrived this morning and I was shocked to to learn that the ambassador had been kidnapped,” said the employee on condition of anonymity.An interior ministry source told AFP that Sharif was taken late on Saturday from his home in Baghdad’s upscale Mansur neighbourhood.Police erected a tight security cordon around the embassy Sunday and kept journalists 30 metres (yards) away as reinforcements arrived, an AFP correspondent on the scene reported.The Egyptian foreign ministry said it still had no confirmation its head of mission had been abducted and stressed that his safety was paramount.”The ministry has initiated contacts this morning with the Iraqi government and all other related parties to determine the veracity of reports circulating about the disappearance of ambassador Ihab al-Sharif, chief of the Egyptian diplomatic mission in Baghdad,” said a statement released in Cairo.”The Egyptian minister of foreign affairs hopes for a speedy clarification of the situation and the safeguarding of the security of the Egyptian diplomat who is charged with strengthening relations between the two brotherly peoples of Egypt and Iraq.”Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit had been in touch directly with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari, the statement added.Sharif was the first ambassador named by an Arab country to Iraq since the fall of Saddam, followed by an envoy from Jordan.- Nampa-AFP”I arrived this morning and I was shocked to to learn that the ambassador had been kidnapped,” said the employee on condition of anonymity.An interior ministry source told AFP that Sharif was taken late on Saturday from his home in Baghdad’s upscale Mansur neighbourhood.Police erected a tight security cordon around the embassy Sunday and kept journalists 30 metres (yards) away as reinforcements arrived, an AFP correspondent on the scene reported.The Egyptian foreign ministry said it still had no confirmation its head of mission had been abducted and stressed that his safety was paramount.”The ministry has initiated contacts this morning with the Iraqi government and all other related parties to determine the veracity of reports circulating about the disappearance of ambassador Ihab al-Sharif, chief of the Egyptian diplomatic mission in Baghdad,” said a statement released in Cairo.”The Egyptian minister of foreign affairs hopes for a speedy clarification of the situation and the safeguarding of the security of the Egyptian diplomat who is charged with strengthening relations between the two brotherly peoples of Egypt and Iraq.”Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit had been in touch directly with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari, the statement added.Sharif was the first ambassador named by an Arab country to Iraq since the fall of Saddam, followed by an envoy from Jordan.- Nampa-AFP