NEWSLINKS US EDITION COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Egypt will send a high-level envoy to Afghanistan in a bid to persuade the ruling Taliban militia to reverse their decision to destroy the country's Buddhist statues, Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said on Friday.
Moussa did not name the envoy, but said he would depart in the coming days.
He said President Hosni Mubarak had received several appeals to intervene with Taliban, whose leadership decided last week to destroy all ancient statues in Afghanistan as idolatrous and un-Islamic.
On Wednesday, UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura phoned Mubarak and asked him to intercede to save the statues, one of which is a giant Buddha carved into a mountainside at Bamiyam, some 145 km west of Kabul.
Moussa said Taliban have to reconsider their decision, as the statues are "a human heritage that has no effect on Islam in Afghanistan or elsewhere."
Back to top
Tell us what you think of this report
