Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Samih Shokary on Thursday assigned the Egyptian Embassy in the US with the task of expressing Egypt’s objection to the recent travel warning message issued by the US Department of State, according to the Ministry’s official Facebook page.
The Ministry noted that the warning message issued by the US Department State called on US citizens to consider travel risks when planning a trip to Egypt due to terrorist threats and attacks in the country– which the Ministry claimed was “misleading”.
Shokary asserted that the US warning referenced terrorist attacks that took place years ago, and that it will give people the impression that these are recent attacks.
Moreover, the Ministry addressed clear criticism of the message for describing the armed militants engaging in confrontations with the government as “violent political opposition groups”. “Any political group that uses violence is considered a terrorist one, it is not logic to describe these groups as ‘political opposition groups’,” the Ministry’s statement read.
In the same context, Shokary criticized the US warning message for insinuating that terrorist attacks could occur in Egypt at any time and place.
“The warning message’s content, which stipulates that attacks can take place in Egypt at any time or place, is misinformation and is negatively stereotyping the security conditions in Egypt,” he said.
The Ministry’s statement concluded by conceding that the US Department of State’s message mentioned the strict security presence in Egypt at touristic and religious sites, however, it claimed the message was nevertheless misleading the public in regards to safety conditions in Egypt.
