Patterson to leave Egypt post Friday
US Ambassador to Cairo Anne Patterson is due to leave the country on Friday as her mandate in Cairo lapses, the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper reported Thursday, based on a telegram sent from the US Foreign Ministry to its Egyptian counterpart.
According to the telegram, David Satterfield, head of the Multinational Force and Observers mission in Egypt, will be the acting ambassador in the interim.
Satterfield comes back to foreign service after a brief break that started in 2009, when he was nominated director-general of the MFO by the US government. The MFO's mandate is to observe the 1979 peace accords signed between Egypt and Israel.
Earlier this month, rumors circulated around the appointment of former US envoy to Syria Robert Ford as Patterson’s successor, stirring controversy. An online campaign in Egypt rejected his nomination, accusing him of inciting civil war in Syria.
Patterson leaves behind a sensitive diplomatic mission, as she came under popular criticism for expressing reservations about the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi and his incarceration alongside a number of leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Appointed US ambassador in Cairo in June 2011, Patterson will now be taking up the position of assistant secretary of state for Middle East affairs.
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