Egypt criticizes US alert

Egypt has criticized what it called an “incomprehensible” US warning to its citizens to avoid theatres and shopping malls in Cairo over the weekend for unspecified security reasons.

The alert issued by the US embassy in Cairo on Friday was cited in Canadian and Australian travel warnings, with the British Foreign Office later putting out a message that copied the US warning.

Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said he “was disturbed” by the warning.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said that these “unnecessary alerts can have negative impacts, particularly on the economic front’‘.

Egypt has been battered by militant attacks since the army toppled Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The tourism based economy has suffered since then as the wave of deadly attacks have diverted millions of tourists to other destinations.

AFP