Suez Canal Affair: Bush Apologizes to Egypt

(Pana) – American president George Bush apologized to Egypt after a boat chartered by the Navy opened fire on an Egyptian motorboat on Monday evening near the Suez Canal, killing one and injuring two.

This incident angered the Egyptian authorities, who insist that the American reaction was unwarranted.

“President Bush expressed his deep regret in the wake of the incident in the Suez Canal, adding that his country will conduct an inquiry to shed light on this matter,” said the spokesman of the US National Security Council, Gordon Johndroe. The occupants of the small Egyptian boat were seeking to sell goods to ships based in the Suez Canal, said one Egyptian source. According to the Navy, the Global Patriot opened fire after the boat continued to move forward, despite verbal warnings in Arabic and warning rocket fire. The freighter had been awaiting permission to traverse the Suez Canal from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.

Washington had initially denied that shots had been fired, later admitting that they had been fired into the water. The Egyptian foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, criticized the behavior of the Americans, noting that the shots were unacceptable and that ports are not open for firing on people, according to his remarks in the national newspaper Al-Ahram. “We accept the apology made by the American president; however, the rights of Egyptians must be guaranteed, and the waters and the Egyptian territory must be respected,” he insisted.