Egypt and Italy have become involved in a custody row over a 12-year-old girl who has sought refuge in the Italian embassy in Kuwait.

The girl, identified only as Erica, and whose divorced parents live in Kuwait, fled to the embassy on 16 January.

Erica, who has dual Eygptian-Italian nationality, has refused to leave the building unless she is allowed to live with her mother.

Her action follows a ruling by an Egyptian court, later upheld by Kuwait's legal system, that she should live with her father.

However, Erica reportedly fears that her father, an Egyptian lawyer who also has Italian citizenship, was preparing to give up his job in Kuwait and take her to Egypt.

Her Italian mother works as a teacher after divorcing her father three years ago.

The custody row has generated huge interest in Italy.

Italian newspapers say it demonstrates the difficulties of cross-cultural marriages.

Diplomatic efforts

Diplomatic initiatives have so far failed to resolve the dispute.

Senior Italian foreign ministry officials had been in Kuwait, and Egypt and Italy have held high-level talks, but neither side appears ready to budge.

Diplomats say they are seeking an amicable solution before Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi visits Egypt later this month.

Rome does not appear ready to hand over the girl to her father. Under Italian law, the Italian ambassdor is the girl's legal guardian until the dispute is resolved.

The father told Reuters on Tuesday he had offered to let Erica spend four-and-a-half days a week with his ex-wife. "But they are pressuring me to hand over custody which I will not do," he said.

Diplomats said the couple married in Egypt 17 years ago under Egyptian law and the mother converted to Islam.