Cost-cutting Denmark closes embassies

Denmark will close embassies in Amman, Algiers during 2010 after security costs have risen to prevent terrorism.

COPENHAGEN - Denmark will shut its embassies in Algeria, Jordan, Bosnia and Nicaragua to save money after security costs have risen to prevent terrorism, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.

The embassies in Amman and Algiers will close during 2010, whilst the embassy in Sarajevo will shut next year. No date has been set for the closure of the Managua embassy.

Denmark's general consulate in Hong Kong will also close its doors in 2012, though the Scandinavian country will open a new embassy in Abu Dhabi, part of the United Arab Emirates.

The closures will save Denmark 17.3 million euros (23.6 million dollars) over three years.

Referring to the closure of the embassy in Algiers, the Danish ministry said "the costs had become too high" to ensure its security.

Denmark will however "make special efforts to keep good diplomatic relations with Algeria" and said there would either be another Danish representative in the region, or "a traveling ambassador based in Copenhagen".

Denmark's daily Politiken apologized in February to Muslims for possibly offending them by reproducing cartoons of the prophet Mohammed in 2008.

Politiken's apology was widely condemned by Danish politicians, who charged that the paper had caved in to pressure and had sacrificed freedom of expression, which is considered a cornerstone of Danish democracy.

The cartoons, including one featuring Prophet Mohammed wearing a turban shaped like a bomb with a lit fuse, angered many Muslims worldwide and sparked angry protests in January and February 2006.

The protests culminated with the torching of Danish diplomatic offices in Damascus and Beirut and the death of dozens of people in Nigeria.

In 2008, around 20 Danish newspapers, including Politiken, reproduced the drawings following a failed attack against one of the cartoonists, sparking further protests in a number of Muslim countries, including Sudan, Egypt, Pakistan and Indonesia.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=38454.