Saudi Arabia to re-open diplomatic mission in Egypt
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E-mail Xinhua, May 5, 2012
Saudi Arabia's king has ordered the Gulf country's diplomatic mission to re-open in Egypt after its shutdown almost a week ago due to protests against the kingdom's arrest of an Egyptian lawyer, the official SPA press agency reported on Friday.
King Abdullah "instructed the kingdom's ambassador to Cairo to resume his post on Sunday, and ordered the reopening of the embassy and the consulates in Alexandria and Suez," SPA said.
The order came just one day after a high-level delegation headed by Egypt's parliament speaker Saad al-Katatni arrived for talks with Saudi officials aimed at defusing the crisis overshadowing ties between the long-time allies.
On Saturday, Saudi Arabia announced the decision to recall its ambassador to Egypt and close its embassy in Cairo and consulates in Alexandria and Suez, responding to raging protests outside the embassy compound.
The protesters called for the release of Ahmed al-Gizawi, who was arrested the previous week by Saudi authorities at Jeddah airport over the allegation of possessing banned drugs.
Following the Saudi announcement, Egypt swiftly worked towards the resolution of the crisis, with ruling military council chief Hussein Tantawi making phone calls to King Abdullah as well as Saudi Prime Minister Abdullah bin Abdul.
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