Dubai: Bahrain’s Cabinet on Sunday approved a parliamentary proposal to stop “interference” by the US envoy in the kingdom’s affairs, the government spokesperson said, without clarifying what measures would be taken.
“The Cabinet has approved a proposal by the parliament to put an end to the interference of US ambassador Thomas Krajeski in Bahrain’s internal affairs,” the official BNA news agency reported Samira Rajab as saying.
The proposal also aims at putting an end to “his repeated meetings with instigators of sedition” — a government term for protesters who frequently clash with police.
However, “the diplomatic measures Bahrain will take do not include dismissing the envoy,” Rajab said, adding that Manama “will commit to international agreements in dealing with the US ambassador.”
Bahrain, home to the US Fifth Fleet, has witnessed a series of anti-government protests since February 2011. Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, an uncle of King Hamad, has been in office since 1971.
On April 25, Bahrain voiced “dismay” over an assessment by the US State Department of the rights situation in the kingdom, saying it contained “texts which are totally far from the truth, adopting a manner that fuels terror and terrorists targeting Bahrain’s national security.”
A US State Department report released on April 19 said that “the most serious human rights problems included citizens’ inability to change their government peacefully; arrest and detention of protesters on vague charges, in some cases leading to their torture in detention.”
