* Egyptian sources say claims arise from alleged kidnap plot
* UAE says could damage historic ties
DUBAI, Dec 18 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has
rebuffed claims carried by Egyptian media that it was behind a
plot against the Egypt's leadership, saying they were
"fabricated", state news agency WAM reported.
UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan
has summoned Egypt's ambassador to discuss the claims aimed "to
damage the interests of the two countries and their historic and
special relationship", WAM said late on Monday.
Sheikh Abdullah called on the Egyptian government "to follow
up on these unfounded and slanderous fabrications", WAM said.
It did not directly quote the comments which gave offence.
Egyptian official sources, who declined to be named because
of the political sensitivity of the matter, said the UAE was
responding to accusations by Mohammed Yaqout that the Gulf state
was involved in a plot to kidnap Egyptian President Mohamed
Mursi.
Yaqout is a former member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood,
according to independent newspaper al-Masry al-Youm.
The UAE has arrested about 60 local Islamists this year,
accusing them of having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood - which
is banned in the country - and conspiring to overthrow the
government.
Thanks to cradle-to-grave welfare systems, the UAE and other
Gulf Arab monarchies have largely avoided the Arab Spring unrest
which unseated rulers elsewhere.
But they fear that the rise of the Brotherhood in Egypt, and
of other Islamist groups elsewhere, could increase dissent on
their own turf.
A Muslim Brotherhood official in Cairo, contacted by
Reuters, said the Brotherhood had not accused the UAE of a plot
and that he did not know Yagout.
The organisation, which rose to power in Egypt after the
overthrow of Hosni Mubarak last year, has consistently sought to
reassure Gulf Arab states it has no plan to push for political
change beyond Egypt's borders.
Mursi, propelled to power by the Brotherhood, has said there
is no plan to "export the revolution". His comments were
welcomed by the UAE.
But relations between the two countries have undergone
some rough patches since the toppling of Mubarak, a longtime
Gulf ally. In June, Egypt's Foreign Ministry summoned the UAE
ambassador over comments made on the social media site Twitter
by Dubai's chief of police that the ministry described as being
against Egypt's interests.
(Reporting by Rania El Gamal and Raissa Kasolowsky in Dubai and
Tamim Elyan in Cairo; Editing by Michael Roddy)