Merkel Cancels Tunisia Trip Amid Security Concerns

Chancellor Angela Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has canceled a trip to Tunisia scheduled for next month amid reported security concerns over unrest in the Arab worlds.

A spokesman for Merkel said the trip was called off by mutual agreement with the Tunisian government, but he declined to cite the reason.

However, the "Financial Times Deutschland" mentioned security concerns in its September 27 edition.

Four people were killed in an attack by hard-line Islamist radicals on the U.S. Embassy in Tunis on September 14, provoked by an anti-Islam Internet film produced in the United States.

On the same day, the German Embassy in Khartoum was set on fire as demonstrations over the video swept the Muslim world.

Merkel told her supporters on September 26 that Islam was part of German society and called for mutual religious tolerance.


Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters