CAIRO — The spokesman for Egypt's interim president is decrying “foreign pressure” in a strongly worded message that appears to indicate Cairo's uneasiness toward a flurry of visits by American, European and Gulf envoys aimed at mediating a standoff with supporters of the ousted president. Ahmed El-Musalamani, a spokesman for interim president Adly Mansour, told reporters on Tuesday that “foreign pressure has exceeded international standards.” He didn't elaborate. His comments came a day after US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns met with Khairat El-Shater, a top leader in Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group. In recent days, Burns, EU foreign policy supremo Catherine Ashton, EU envoy Bernardino Leon, Arab diplomats, an African delegation and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle have all traveled to Cairo in a bid to defuse the crisis. Two senior US Senators have urged Egypt's military-backed government to release detained members of the Muslim Brotherhood before starting negotiations. Tuesday's comments came after John McCain and Lindsey Graham met with top military and civilian leaders in Cairo as part of a flurry of international efforts to resolve a standoff with supporters of the ousted president Mohammed Morsi. McCain said “we urge the release of political prisoners,” referring to Brotherhood members who have been detained since Morsi's ouster by the military on July 3. “In democracy, you sit down and talk to each other,” Graham said.
“It is impossible to talk to somebody who is in jail,” he added. As tensions mounted over the looming break-up of two major sit-ins staged by Morsi loyalists, Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei urged the Brotherhood to find a peaceful way out of the crisis and appealed to Egypt's media to stop “demonising” the group. He called on the Brotherhood “to join the peaceful solutions. Don't count on the security forces dispersing the sit-ins by force, causing a massacre and turning you into victims.” Such a scenario “would only increase the people's anger against you.” A longtime Egyptian diplomat and former presidential contender said the Muslim Brotherhood must drop its demand that the toppled president be reinstated if the country is to avoid more bloodshed. Amr Moussa said on Tuesday that the Islamist group's calls for Morsi to return to power are “untenable.” Moussa said: “It is in their hands. If they act intelligently at this stage, they will certainly move into the future.” But the Brotherhood is standing its ground. “Only a political solution to restore continuity of constitutional legitimacy will end crisis,” said the group's spokesman Gehad Al-Haddad on Twitter. Leon met Prime Minister Hazem Al-Beblawi on Monday after he and Burns met the day before with the number two of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement, Khairat al-Shater, in prison. A spokeswoman for the State Department in Washington said that Burns and Leon had visited Shater on Sunday, accompanied by the foreign ministers of regional US allies Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
The spokeswoman, Marie Harf, said the visit was intended to “prevent further violence, calm tensions and facilitate an inclusive dialogue among Egyptians that can help the transition. – Agencies
