The Egyptian ambassador to Algeria was recalled by Cairo as the soccer feud between the two countries has now escalated into a full scale diplomatic row.
It is also believed that Hosni Mubarak himself called the Algerian ambassador, Abdel Qader Hadja hours before the recall of the Egyptian envoy, to voice his grievance over the assaults on Egyptian citizens who went to Khartoum to support the Egyptian team."
An eyewitness account of what happened.
Egyptian fan Abdel Rahman Magdy, who had flown to Sudan to attend the match told Daily News Egypt: "As we were leaving the stadium towards the airport, we heard what we thought was a bullet but then we found out that it was a stone... suddenly we were being pelted with stones by Algerian fans and by the time we reached the airport the windows on our bus were all broken; everyone was frightened even the driver."
Egypt alleges that about 20 people were injured after the match. In Algeria, Egyptian businesses have been attacked. The Orascom compound in Algiers was vandalized and millions of dollars of property was damaged or stolen. The CEO of the company has requested the employees to return back to Egypt because of he cannot guarantee their safety.
Its a bit rich for Egypt to be retaliating like this since the violence began in Cairo with the bus carrying the Algerian soccer team attacked by a mob leaving three players injured. Given the context of the bitter and violent rivalry between the two countries, what did Egypt expect? The Algerians to turn their face away to their soccer team being attacked?
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