CAIRO: The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the authorities have started to prevent the entry of US and European diplomats to Egypt if they do not have a visa, spokesman Hossam Zaki said in a statement. He added that “the Egyptian authorities would deny entry to any US or European diplomat in case this diplomat did not get a pre-attached visa to Egypt in his or her diplomatic passport.” The security authorities at Cairo airport prevented on Tuesday an American passenger arriving from Tunisia carrying a US diplomatic passport from entering Egypt and deported her on the next available plane “because she didn’t have an Egyptian visa,” Zaki added. “About 14 months ago, the US and European states issued a decree banning entry of diplomats to their land if they do not have a prior entry visa attached to the passport, and thus Egypt is applying the principle of reciprocity,” he said, adding “how come they would deny us entry and we would allow them to enter without a prior visa?” Zaki explained that the Egyptian Foreign Ministry has sent instructions to the authorities at Egyptian airports to prevent the entry of any US and European diplomat that does not have a visa to Egypt, adding that Egyptian airports have already applied such instructions since the issuance of the new stipulations. **reporting by Mohamed Abdel Salam BM
