Members of the Muslim Brotherhood and
supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi walk with their
families in the sit-in area of Rabaa al- Adawiya Square, where they are
camping, on the first day of the Eid al-Fitr holiday in Cairo on August
8, 2013. (Reuters)
Maggie Fick and Yasmine Saleh, Reuters
Islamist supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi began
marching to demand his restoration on Thursday after the military-led
authorities that removed him held off from carrying out a threat to
clear protest sit-ins by force.
Interim President Adly Mansour declared on Wednesday that international
diplomatic efforts to resolve the political crisis had failed and the
government warned protesters to leave their protest camps, saying the
decision to remove them was final.
U.S. and European Union envoys left Cairo on Wednesday after the
breakdown of their attempts to broker a solution, which had also
involved Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
However, a person involved in the mediation effort said the authorities
and Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood might yet step back from confrontation
and implement mutual confidence building steps that could lead to a
negotiated settlement.
“It’s not over yet,” the diplomat said. “It could work but we don’t have any guarantees. Everything is very fragile.”
Egyptian government and military sources also said the talks were not
finished for good but had been frozen to assuage public anger over
perceived foreign interference in Egypt’s affairs and among some at the
authorities' willingness to negotiate with the Brotherhood after months
of demonizing them.
A military source said the authorities were holding back from using
force to clear the protest camps partly due to fear that liberal Vice
President Mohamed al-Baradei would resign, removing a key source of
political legitimacy for army rule.
Interim Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi visited the Central Security
Forces with the interior minister in an apparent effort to calm
hardliners impatient for tougher action.
“He assured them that the government places security at the top of its
priorities and that there is no stable society without security that is
founded on the law, and that protects the sovereignty of the state and
the lives of its citizens and their possessions,” a statement from
Beblawi’s office said.
Festive protests
Thousands of demonstrators converged on a Brotherhood protest camp in
northeastern Cairo in a festive atmosphere to attend prayers and a rally
on the first day of the Eid al-Fitr holiday after the end of the
fasting month of Ramadan.
“I came here because I want to make a small difference,” said Ghada
Idriss, 35, who travelled from the rural province of Minya by car with
her husband, two young sons, and two-month-old daughter Lougine.
“By sitting here peacefully, they will understand and knowthat we refuse the return of the system of Hosni (Mubarak).”
Secular and leftist groups have also called for mass demonstrations and
public prayers across Egypt to support what they see as a popular
revolution that led to the overthrow of Mursi by the military on July 3
after just a year in office.
In one apparent conciliatory gesture, prosecutors dropped the main
charge against the head of the Brotherhood’s political wing, Saad
al-Katatni, on Wednesday in a possible prelude tore leasing him.
The Brotherhood allowed a human rights organization and a European
Parliament delegation to visit the main Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in, where
anti-Mursi media have alleged that weapons had been stockpiled.
The person involved in the mediation effort said a sequence of
statements and confidence building measures aimed at reducing tensions
and reassuring public opinion might yet lead to director indirect
negotiations between the two sides.
So far, the Brotherhood has refused to accept what it calls an illegal
coup against Mursi and has publicly demanded there turn of the elected
president, who is detained at a secret location. The new authorities
have accused Islamist leaders of inciting violence, frozen the
Brotherhood's assets and vowed to put them on trial.
Train has departed
“The train of the future has departed, and everyone must realise the
moment and catch up with it, and whoever fails to realise this moment
must take responsibility for their decision,” interim president Mansour
said in an Eid broadcast.
Diplomats have said any settlement would have to involve a dignified
exit for Mursi, Brotherhood acceptance of the new disposition, the
release of political prisoners arrested since the takeover and a future
political role for the Brotherhood.
The United States and the EU said on Wednesday they were very concerned
that the Egyptian parties had not found a way to break what they called a
dangerous stalemate.
“This remains a very fragile situation, which holds not only the risk of
more bloodshed and polarization in Egypt, but also impedes the economic
recovery, which is so essential for Egypt’s successful transition,”
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and EU foreign policy chief Catherine
Ashton said in a statement.
Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans, who was visiting Cairo when the
talks collapsed, told Reuters the country’s new rulers appeared to see
no merit in talking to the Brotherhood now, but they would have to do so
eventually and the sooner the better.
At the protest sit-in around Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, groups of
protesters beat drums and chanted “Interior ministry - thugs!,” “Egypt,
our country, Islamic!” and “Raise your voice, revolution anew!”
A pick-up truck blasted the catchy song “Egypt is Islamic.”
Several senior Brotherhood figures who escaped arrest have been holed up
at the sit-in, including the movement’s guide, Mohamed Badie, and some
former ministers and parliamentary leaders.
While violence has subsided in Cairo since a July 27 incident in which
security forces shot dead at least 80 Islamist protesters, daily clashes
have continued between Islamist militants and the army in the lawless
Sinai Peninsula adjoining Israel.
The army said on Wednesday it had killed 60 militants in the province
since Mursi was ousted on July 3, and medical officials have said the
gunmen have killed about 40 people, mostly members of the security
forces.
Source: english.alarabiya.net
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