High-level diplomatic sources have told the Egyptian opposition daily Al-Masryoon that U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Francis J. Ricciardone left Egypt secretly last Thursday, after being summoned by the State Department to a meeting in Washington.

The Washington meeting was on the ramifications of a recent meeting between U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Dr. Muhammad Sa'd Al-Katatni, head of the Muslim Brotherhood faction in the Egyptian parliament.

The sources added that Egypt's Foreign Ministry had informed the U.S. State Department of its objections to this meeting, because it gives legitimacy to a movement that is outlawed in Egypt.

Source: Al-Masryoon, Egypt, April 16, 2007