Official: Saudi envoy to return to Egypt

Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Egypt will return to Cairo next week, a Saudi official said on Friday, after the envoy was recalled in a rare diplomatic row between the long-time allies.

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The ambassador was withdrawn almost a week ago in response to street protests in Cairo against the arrest of an Egyptian lawyer in the Gulf kingdom.

Asked by text message to confirm Egyptian media reports that the Saudi king had ordered the ambassador to return to Cairo, a Saudi Foreign Ministry spokesman replied: "yes."

The Saudi monarch gave the orders during a visit by a large Egyptian parliamentary delegation to Riyadh.

"Our decision to recall the ambassador and shut down the embassy was to protect its staff from any ominous consequences," King Abdullah told the delegation in a speech aired by Saudi state television.

"What happened recently and its ramifications on the relations between the two brotherly countries hurts every Egyptian and Saudi citizen," he said.

The withdrawal of the Saudi envoy appeared a sharp message to Egypt's rulers of the need to maintain good ties with a Gulf state that last week agreed to send $2.7 billion to support Cairo's battered finances.

Strong ties between Riyadh and Cairo had already been strained by the upheaval in Egypt that overthrew its president Hosni Mubarak, who was close to the Saudi leadership. The rising power of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has also worried many in the Gulf who fear the spread of the Islamist group's influence.

Egyptian parliamentary Speaker Saad al-Katatni, who was at the head of the Egyptian delegation, told the king recalling the ambassador was "hard for Egyptians."

"We have to overcome these passing events and not let them unsettle the relations between the two countries," he said. "We hope that the (Saudi) ambassador comes back with us on the same plane."

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