Egyptians trying to end Qatar sackings

The Egyptian foreign minister, Amr Mussa, has said the government is trying to persuade the Gulf emirate of Qatar to stop its dismissal of Egyptians working in the Qatari civil service.

Mr Mussa said contacts were continuing with Qatar in an attempt to find a solution to the problem.

Yesterday Saturday the Egyptian ambassador to Qatar Muhammad Munaysi announced that more than one-hundred-and-fifty Egyptians working for the Qatari Interior and Defence Ministries had been dismissed.

He said that the sackings were due to the strained relations between the countries after Egypt joined other Arab countries in boycotting an economic conference in Qatar last November.

There's been no comment so far from the Qatari government.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service