“Provocative actions” expected
BKA concerned about spies at the climate conference
11/13/2022 9:54 p.m
With the demand for the release of an imprisoned blogger, Chancellor Scholz apparently annoyed the Egyptian authorities. The BKA warns the German delegation against provocations by Egyptian security authorities. There is also comprehensive monitoring.
The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) warned the German delegation at the world climate conference in Egypt of spies and provocations by the security authorities of the host country, according to those involved. According to statements by Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the observance of human rights in Egypt, there is extensive surveillance “with personnel and technical means by the Egyptian security authorities” and “provocative actions by protagonists close to the state” at events of the German delegation, an insider quoted from a BKA letter the German delegation members. Representatives of like-minded countries are also affected.
The Reuters news agency could not see the letter. However, two members of the delegation confirmed its existence. Three other German participants at the climate summit reported that other German conference attendees had spoken to them about the warnings. The BKA declined to comment. The Egyptian presidency of the climate conference has not yet responded to a request for comment.
The BKA warned that people who monitored the events mostly wore badges from the United Nations, which is the organizer of the conference. Others identified themselves with their badges as representatives of the host country or as observers, according to the information in the BKA letter. Some of these ID cards were “falsified or stolen by submitting false registration data”.
Security guards filmed events
After concerns about shadowing, the German embassy has already complained to the hosts. Egyptian security guards observed and filmed events at the German pavilion, it said. The embassy then asked the Egyptian authorities to stop these measures.
On Tuesday, on the fringes of the conference in the seaside resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Scholz called for the release of the Egyptian-British blogger Alaa Abd el-Fattah, who was on hunger strike and who was imprisoned in Egypt. Representatives from almost 200 countries are taking part in the UN climate conference COP27. The meeting, which runs until November 18, will discuss how to achieve the goal agreed in the Paris Agreement of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.