Tariq al-Hidan, the United Arab Emirate’s deputy foreign minister, arrived in Cairo on Sunday to diffuse tensions between Egypt and the UAE following controversial statements against the Muslim Brotherhood made by Dubai police chief Dahi Khalfan.
Diplomatic sources who spoke to Al-Masry Al-Youm on condition of anonymity said that Hidan would meet with Egyptian officials in Cairo to contain the crisis. His visit would last for a few days, the sources added.
On Sunday, Khalfan continued to make statements against the Muslim Brotherhood on his Twitter, calling the members of the group “thugs.”
Khalfan wrote that he received more than 2,000 phone threats in less than 72 hours. “I have no doubt that the Muslim Brotherhood thugs are much worse than those of Habib al-Adly,” he wrote, referencing ousted President Mubarak’s former interior minister.
Khalfan escalated his attacks on the Muslim Brotherhood after the group’s candidate Mohamed Morsy won the presidential election that ended on 17 June.
“[Morsy] will come crawling to the Gulf, and we will not receive him on a red carpet. He will kiss the hands of the custodian of the two holy mosques as [Muslim Brotherhood founder] Hassan al-Banna did with King Abdel Aziz,” Khalfan wrote in an earlier tweet.
His remarks prompted Egypt’s Foreign Ministry to summon the UAE ambassador to Cairo for clarification.
Yasser Ali, the acting spokesperson for the president, said Monday that the Foreign Ministry responded to Khalfan’s attack on Morsy, and it is not the responsibility of the office of the president to respond to such situations.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
