The new United States ambassador to Egypt has arrived in Cairo to fill a position that has been vacant since Islamist President Mohamed Morsi's ouster in July 2013, Egypt's State Information Service said on Friday. Stephen Beecroft arrived in Cairo on Thursday to succeed Anne Patterson, who completed her tenure and left Egypt following Morsi's ouster. The US chargé d'affaires has temporarily filled the post since then. Beecroft served as the US ambassador to Iraq and Jordan and is one of the top members in the US diplomatic corps. According to a statement carried by the official website of the US embassy in Cairo, Beecroft, Class of Minister-Counselor, had been the US Ambassador to Iraq since 2012. He was also the US Ambassador to Jordan from 2008 to 2011. Beecroft served as the Executive Assistant to two Secretaries of State from 2004 to 2008, and he was a Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State from 2003 to 2004. Egypt and the US say their relationship is solid, although it was strained following the ouster of Morsi in July 2013 after mass protests against his one-year rule. Military aid held by the US pending democratic reform was released in June. Egypt has also joined a US-led coalition with nine other Arab states to confront the Islamic State (IS), an extremist militant group that has taken over areas of Syria and Iraq and to which Egypt-based Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis recently pledged allegiance. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/118385.aspx
