Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Bulgaria
Newsline: EU condemns bid to kidnap Bulgarian ambassador in Yemen
The European Union Sunday strongly condemned a bid to kidnap the Bulgarian ambassador in Yemem and called on the government there to ensure the protection of diplomats and other foreigners, AFP reported. The EU’s chief diplomat, Catherine Ashton, “condemns the attack in Sanaa on May 12 that injured the Bulgarian ambassador to Yemen, Boris Genadiev Borisov, and expresses the sincere solidarity of the European Union,” she said. “The High Representative calls on the Yemeni authorities to take the necessary measures to ensure the protection of foreign nationals and diplomats and do the utmost to investigate the incident,” she added, according to a statement issued by her office. In Sofia, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov said masked gunmen stopped the ambassador’s car in central Sanaa and attempted to kidnap him and his wife.
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n277901
Newsline: Bulgarian ambassador escapes kidnapping in Yemen
Bulgaria’s ambassador to Yemen escaped with minor injuries on Saturday after masked gunmen opened fire on his car in the capital and tried to kidnap him, a Western diplomat said. “He was with his wife when they were attacked. Three armed men tried to kidnap him from his car. When he refused and started to drive away they opened fire on his vehicle. He was wounded in the eye by broken glass,” said the diplomat. The ambassador and his wife escaped by fleeing into a nearby shopping centre, witnesses said. Yemeni security forces arrived shortly afterwards. The diplomat said the ambassador had not been accompanied by guards. “We do not know if they were tribesmen who just spotted the diplomatic plates or al Qaeda militants who had planned to kidnap him for ransom,” said the diplomat. Kidnappings of foreigners and Yemenis are common in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state, where hostages are often used by disgruntled tribesmen to press demands on authorities. Hostages are often freed unharmed.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-rt-yemen-bulgariaambassadorl5e8gc2dn-20120512,0,7311348.story
Newsline: Bulgarian ambassador will not return in Minsk
Ivailo Ivanov has been appointed as Chargé d’affaires of the Bulgarian Embassy in Belarus. Ivanov’s appointment in Belarus takes place in the context of the overall restoration of the normal functioning of the diplomatic missions of European Union member states in Minsk, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry has said in a statement. The diplomatic exodus of the EU Ambassadors from Minsk in February was the culmination of strained relations and the EU’s subsequent imposition of sanctions on Belarus. On February 29 2012, Bulgaria recalled its ambassador to the Republic of Belarus, Zachary Radukov.
http://www.charter97.org/en/news/2012/4/27/51424/
Newsline: Estonia to Close Embassy in Bulgaria
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will close the Estonian Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria by the end of this year. The embassy’s closure memorandum foresees that the cancellation of contracts and staff reduction will gradually take place over the course of this year. The main reasons for the closure are that Estonian entrepreneurs have reportedly become less interested in Bulgarian business opportunities and the trade relations between the two nations have remained relatively modest since the embassy’s opening in 2006. According to embassy data, there are around 50 Estonian citizens permanently residing in Bulgaria, whose needs will be covered by the Estonian Honorary Consulate in Sofia.
http://news.err.ee/politics/cdca998a-6aaa-41f5-8131-0c08d693e6e0
Newsline: Sofia to Remove Road Blocks before German, UK Embassies
The road barriers placed in front of the German Embassy in Bulgaria will be removed by end-March, Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova said Thursday. The barriers in front of the British Embassy in Sofia on 9 Moskovska Street would also be removed and replaced by automatic retractable bollards which will be folded down between 6 p.m. and 8. a.m. so as to provide unimpeded access to the street, Fandakova explained. At present, two barriers placed in front of the premises enclose a parking lot for diplomatic vehicles and two portable security cabins. She noted that the road barriers in front of the Turkish Embassy and the residence of the Turkish Ambassador to Sofia had already been lifted. In July 2010, a cross-institutional commission of representatives of the Foreign and Interior Ministries ordered the removal of steel barriers, Jersey barriers and flowerpots placed in front of the buildings of the diplomatic missions of Turkey, Spain, Great Britain and Germany.
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=136929
Newsline: Afghanistan Plans To Open Embassy In Greece
Afghanistan will open an embassy in Greece within a few months to help deal with the tens of thousands of Afghan illegal migrants there. Greece is the main entry point into Europe for migrants from across the Middle East and North Africa, including Algerians, Pakistanis, Somalis and Iraqis as well as Afghans. Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Musazai said the new embassy in Athens should be open by the end of March. Kabul will close its embassy in Bulgaria at the same time, he said. About 50,000 Afghans illegally enter Greece each year, Musazai said. Most are seeking a better life in the European Union and choose Greece because of its porous land border with Turkey. But many are either caught and jailed or find themselves stranded. Musazai said a government delegation late last year provided 650 passports to Afghans who wanted to return home, and persuaded authorities to free 100 Afghans held in detention centers for illegal entry.
http://m.wfiu.npr.org/news/front/144855085
Newsline: Police storm Libyan embassy in Bulgarian capital
Bulgarian police stormed the Libyan embassy inSofiaand forced out diplomats of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime after a new ambassador appointed by Libya’s interim authority arrived in the Balkan country, the foreign ministry said.Bulgaria, which has recognised the National Transitional Council (NTC) as the legitimate authority in the north African country, declared four Libyan diplomats persona non grata and sought their expulsion on Thursday. “The diplomats and their families refused to leave and the police had to take them from the premises,” a foreign ministry spokeswoman said. “They were taken to a police station and after that probably to the refugee agency awaiting their expulsion.” The special police forces took out the wife and children of the former Libyan consul and another staff member. Police declined to comment on the operation. In July, Bulgaria sought the expulsion of the consul, Ibrahim al-Furis, who stormed the Libyan embassy, saying he had joined the rebel forces — a claim which had been denied by NTC. A new Libyan ambassador, appointed by the NTC, arrived in Sofia earlier on Friday, the spokeswoman said, and was waiting to be granted access to the embassy. The new envoy has yet to present his credentials and receive official diplomatic accreditation.
http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7K24L620110902
Newsline: Libyan embassy in Bulgaria joins rebels
A Libyan diplomat declared persona non grata inBulgariarefused to leave the country and with other staff organised a minor rebellion at the embassy, denouncing Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. ‘A note … stating that the embassy’s adviser for consular affairs Ibrahim al-Furis has been declared ‘persona non grata’ was handed to the Libyan charge d’affaires,’ foreign ministry spokeswoman Vesela Cherneva told AFP. ‘He must leave the country within 24 hours,’ she added, without explaining why he was being expelled. Furis however refused to leave and together with other staff at the Libyan embassy inSofiainstigated a minor revolt, declaring the mission was ‘loyal to the revolution’, Bulgarian BTV television reported. BTV footage showed several men and a woman raising the red, black and green flag of the Libyan rebellion outside the embassy and smashing a gilded bust of Gaddafi to pieces. They also tore and trampled a dozen portraits of Gaddafi and ripped up the regime’s flag, an AFP photographer witnessed. Meanwhile, the charge d’affaires and first secretary of the embassy were held captive for a few hours inside the embassy before being freed, BTV said. Furis told the Dnevnik daily that he expected at some point in the next two weeks to be designated as an official representative ofLibya’s rebel-led National Transitional Council inSofia. Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov announced thatBulgariawould suspend its contacts with the mission for the time being until the situation was clearer, state news agency BTA reported.Bulgaria, which has several thousand nationals working in Libya, recognised last month the National Transitional Council as ‘a legitimate representative of the Libyan people’. It refrained however from recognising the rebels as the sole representative in the conflict-torn country. Under the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations, any state can declare another’s representative persona non grata without having to justify its decision.
Newsline: Bulgarian PM seeks diplomat sackings
Bulgarian PM Boiko Borisov has called for top diplomats revealed to be former communist secret service agents to be fired. Borisov said he would ask for the 45 diplomats, most of them ambassadors, to be replaced. A commission said half of Bulgaria’s envoys to the EU had been involved with the secret service. President Georgi Purvanov rejected Mr Borisov’s demand, Bulgarian media report. The Secret Files Commission said the ambassadors to Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Greece and Portugal had been agents of the notorious Darzhavna Sigurnost secret service. The country’s envoys to Tokyo and Moscow are also among the names mentioned in the report. “Imagine these agents in Western European countries,” Mr Borisov said. “They once worked against them as ideological enemies and now they are representing our government there,” he added. The commission said that almost half of all of Bulgaria’s 462 current and past diplomats who served since the end of the communist regime in 1989 had been agents. Purvanov said he did not believe in “political purges”. The president said that he was prepared to examine the records of the diplomats mentioned in the report, but he was sure that in most cases he would find no reasons to sack them.
Newsline: Bulgaria to close 7 of its embassies abroad due to lack of money
Bulgaria’s foreign minister says his office plans to close seven of its embassies because of a lack of funds. Nikolay Mladenov said Thursday he would make a proposal to the government to shut down the embassies in Sudan, Angola, Zimbabwe, Cambodia, Thailand, Mexico and Tunisia. The proposal, which would see a total of 101 Bulgarian embassy employees in those missions return home, is expected to be approved. Mladenov said the closures should not be considered to be “a negative evaluation of the mutual relations between Bulgaria and those nations.” Currently, Bulgaria has 83 embassies, six permanent representations, 20 consular offices, and two diplomatic bureaus abroad.
http://mobile.canadaeast.com/article.php?articleID=1303550&more
