The African Union’s suspension of Egypt’s membership does not apply to the U.S.-African summit scheduled to be held at the White House, to which Egypt was not invited, Minister of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Badr Abdel Atty told MBC Masr TV channel Wednesday.
The Egyptian ambassador in Washington contacted the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield to inform her of Cairo’s displeasure at the U.S.’s failure to invite Egypt, said Atty.
Greenfield said the White House excluded countries that do not participate in the AU’s activities, according to Atty.
“However, non-member countries like Morocco were invited. The African Summit is unrelated to the AU. The U.S’ decision is wrong and short sighted, and Greenfield said her country is willing to reconsider it,” Atty said.
MENA reported that the Afro-Arab Cooperation Council expressed dissatisfaction over failure by the U.S. to invite Egypt to the summit.
“Egypt has been ignored while it is one of the key founders of the African Union and the heart of Africa which supported all other African countries to obtain their liberation,” head of the council Abdel Aziz Abdullah told MENA.
