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29 March 2024

'Mission unaccomplished' by mediators: Egypt

An anti-government protester wears a Guy Fawkes mask as another shouts slogans during a demonstration in Tunis August 6, 2013. Tens of thousands of Tunisians crowded the streets of downtown Tunis on Tuesday to demand the transitional government's ouster, in the largest opposition protest since the country's political crisis began two weeks ago. The secular opposition, angered by two assassinations in its ranks and emboldened by the army-backed toppling of Egypt's Islamist president, is trying to topple Tunisia's Islamist-led government and dissolve the Constituent Assembly. (REUTERS)

Published
By Reuters

The chances for a negotiated end toEgypt's political crisis looked to have hit the rocks on Tuesday with the army-installed government reportedly ready to declare that foreign mediation efforts had failed.

State-run Al Ahram newspaper, citing official sources, said the government would make an announcement to that effect soon.

It would also declare that Muslim Brotherhood protests against the army's overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi werenon-peaceful - a signal that the government intends to end them by force.

The report appeared hours after two senior US senators on a mediation mission said they considered Morsi's removal to havebeen a military coup - causing an uproar in the Egyptian media and drawing a strong riposte from the acting president.

The Republican senators - Lindsey Graham and John McCain -  also called on the military to release political prisoners and start a national dialogue to return Egypt to democratic rule.

State television cited acting President Adly Mansour ascalling McCain's comments "an unacceptable interference ininternal policies".

Many Egyptian private TV stations' talk shows also reactedfuriously. Lamis al-Hadid of CBC TV called them a "big insult to Egypt and its people".

Egypt has been in turmoil since Morsi's overthrow on July 3,following huge demonstrations against his rule.

The country's first freely elected president, Morsi is nowbeing detained at an undisclosed location and thousands of hissupporters remain camped out at two protest sites in Cairo.

Envoys from the United States, the European Union, Qatar andthe United Arab Emirates have been pushing to resolve the crisis and avert further bloodshed between Morsi's backers and the security forces.

But the Al Ahram report dashed hopes of a breakthrough, withthe government casting the blame on what it called theintransigence of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

The newspaper said the interim government would announce"the failure of all US, European, Qatari and UAE delegationsin convincing the Brotherhood of a peaceful solution to thecurrent crisis".

The government had allowed the envoys to visit jailed Brotherhood leaders in order to give a peaceful solution achance.

But it now considered Mursi's overthrow a fait accompli and would proceed with its own "road map" for elections in ninemonths, Al Ahram said.

Asked to comment on the newspaper report, a senior US State Department official in Washington said, without confirmingthat the talks had broken down: "We are still committed to ourongoing efforts at calming tensions, preventing violence andmoving toward an inclusive political process."

The interim Egyptian government's announcement would set the stage for a showdown with pro-Mursi protesters camped out at Rabaa and Al Nahda in Cairo, saying they were non-peacefu lgatherings.

The security forces last week promised the protesters safe exit if they left the camps, but warned their patience waslimited.

They may, however, hold off any action until after Sunday, the end of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that marks the close of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Mission not Accomplished

The latest developments made for a remarkable end to Grahamand McCain's mission, undertaken at US President Barack Obama's request to help resolve the crisis in a country that is instrumental in Washington's Middle East policy.

After meeting army chief General Abdel Fattah Al Sisi,interim Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei and interim PrimeMinister Hazem el-Beblawi, Graham told a news conference: "Thepeople who are in charge were not elected. The people who wereelected are in jail. The status quo is not acceptable."

They had also appealed to the Brotherhood, many of whoseleaders have been jailed, including Mursi, to avoid resorting toviolence and to join the dialogue.

But it was the description of Morsi's overthrow as a coupthat hit a raw Egyptian nerve.

The definition is hotly disputed by the rival sides, with the military and its civilian supporters saying it was acting atthe behest of millions of Egyptians who had taken to the streetsto demand Mosri leave office.

The word coup, which US officials had studiously avoided,could under US law trigger a cutoff of the $1.3 billion USmilitary aid Egypt receives each year.

However McCain did say that "cutting off aid would be thewrong signal at the wrong time."

A spokesman for the interim government, Sherief Shawki, told Reuters it would stick by its transition plan. He also rejectedthe call to release jailed Brotherhood members, saying they would be dealt with by the courts.

Mursi took power in June 2012, 16 months after the overthrowof US-backed strongman Hosni Mubarak, who had ruled for nearly 30 years.

Fears he was trying to establish an Islamist autocracy, coupled with a failure to ease economic hardships afflicting most of Egypt's 84 million people, led to mass street demonstrations, triggering the army move.

Almost 300 people have been killed in political violencesince the overthrow, including 80 shot dead by security forces on July 27.

McCain said the senators also met members of Morsi's Freedomand Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.

On Monday, US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and European Union envoy Bernardino Leon met jailed Brotherhood deputy leader Khairat El-Shater in the prison where he is held.

They tried to persuade him to recognise that there was norealistic prospect of Morsi being reinstated and to accept a political compromise. A Brotherhood spokesman said Shater had insisted they should be talking to Mursi and the only solution was the "reversal of the coup".