UAE recalls ambassador to Sweden

The United Arab Emirates has recalled its ambassador to Sweden a week after Saudi Arabia took a similar step, a Swedish government source said yesterday.

Last week, Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador to Stockholm after the Swedish foreign minister denounced Saudi Arabia’s flogging of a rights activist which the Kingdom considered “a blatant interference in its internal affairs”.

The Swedish Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the UAE’s decision to recall its ambassador and referred any further questions on the matter to the foreign ministry spokesman who was not immediately available for comment.

Meanwhile, the Emirates News Agency said the UAE’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Swedish ambassador to the United Arab Emirates to deliver a formal letter of protest about Wallström’s remarks against Saudi Arabia.

The agency said Anwar Mohammed Gargash, minister of state for foreign affairs expressed “the United Arab Emirates’ condemnation of the extreme statements made by foreign minister of Sweden in front of the Swedish Parliament on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its judicial system.”