WAM Abu Dhabi, Feb 25th, 2013 (WAM) -- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs can confirm that on 22nd February 2013 Dr Kristian Coates Ulrichsen was prevented from entering the UAE to speak at a conference organised by the American University of Sharjah (AUS) and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Dr Coates Ulrichsen was scheduled to speak on the current political situation in Bahrain. The UAE is a strong supporter of efforts by the Government of Bahrain and the opposition parties to resolve their situation through peaceful dialogue. Dr Coates Ulrichsen has consistently propagated views de-legitimizing the Bahraini monarchy. The UAE took the view that at this extremely sensitive juncture in Bahrain's national dialogue it would be unhelpful to allow non-constructive views on the situation in Bahrain to be expressed from within another GCC state.

This decision in no way reflects the strong ties with both the AUS and LSE and their academic excellence, however, in this very specific case, it was important to avoid disruption at a difficult point in Bahrain's national dialogue process which we fully support.

WAM/AM