CAIRO — US Secretary of State John Kerry says bickering Egyptian government and opposition leaders need to reach a political consensus to help their country emerge from an economic crisis. Kerry arrived in Cairo Saturday for meetings with business people, opposition figures and the foreign minister. Talks with President Mohamed Morsi were set for Sunday. US officials accompanying Kerry on his first overseas trip as a member of President Barack Obama's Cabinet said Kerry was particularly concerned that Egypt undertake the reforms necessary to qualify for a $4.8 billion International Monetary Fund loan package. Steps could include increasing tax collections and curbing energy subsidies. Agreement with the IMF, contingent on ending the political chaos that has ensued since Morsi's election, would unlock significant US assistance, including portions of Obama's $1 billion pledge last April. Kerry planned to press all sides to come to a basic agreement on Egypt's direction ahead of parliamentary elections that begin next month. According to the US State Department, Kerry spoke by telephone with Mohammed ElBaradei, a Nobel laureate who heads the National Salvation Front, an opposition coalition calling for an election boycott. Liberal and secular Egyptians have complained that Washington is siding with Morsi's ruling Muslim Brotherhood. Kerry met with Amr Moussa, a former minister under ex-president Hosni Mubarak who's now aligned with the Salvation Front. Moussa, an ex-Arab League head, ran for president last summer. Kerry's talks with the league's current Secretary-General, Nabil Al-Araby, covered the uprising in Syria, where 70,000 people have died in fighting over nearly two years. The Salvation Front says it could consider participating in elections if parts of a new constitution are changed, police stop using excessive force against protesters and if an inclusive government of the Christian minority, women, and liberals is formed. They say now is not the time for elections that will further polarize the country while violent clashes continue to take place between protesters and security forces, further shaking the faltering economy. They accuse Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood of dominating power in Egypt, effectively stepping in to the same role as Mubarak and failing to carry out reforms while also seeking to instill a more religiously conservative system. Morsi's administration and the Brotherhood say their opponents, who have trailed significantly behind Islamists in all elections since the uprising, are running away from the challenge of the ballot box and are trying to overturn democratic gains. Egypt has been locked in political crisis for months amid successive waves of protests against Morsi that have turned into deadly clashes and rioting. — AP
