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U.S. Steps Up Public Diplomacy in Egypt Crisis U.S. Steps Up Public Diplomacy in Egypt Crisis
(about 9 hours later)
CAIRO — A senior United States official arrived here Monday for meetings with the new military-led government as it tries to end a standoff with tens of thousands of Islamists camped out at a sit-in to protest the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. CAIRO — In the clearest statement yet of the United States position on the Egyptian military’s ouster of President Mohamed Morsi, a senior American diplomat warned on Monday that the generals would jeopardize Egypt’s “second chance” at a democratic transition if a crackdown on Mr. Morsi’s Islamist supporters continued.
The visit by William J. Burns, the deputy secretary of state, is the most public United States engagement with the ongoing crisis in Egypt since Mr. Morsi’s ouster on July 3, and it comes at a moment when anti-American sentiment is running high on all sides. “If representatives of some of the largest parties in Egypt are detained or excluded, how are dialogue and participation possible?” the diplomat, Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns, said, speaking briefly to journalists after a meeting on Monday with Egyptian military officials and the interim government they have appointed.
Mr. Morsi’s Islamist supporters accuse Washington of giving its blessing to a military coup that ousted him as the country’s first elected president. Their opponents charge that the Obama administration wrongly supported Mr. Morsi’s Islamist government. Banners in Tahrir Square — the frequent focal point of protest — and elsewhere denounce President Obama as a Brotherhood enabler and depict United States Ambassador Anne W. Patterson with a large X over her face. “It is hard to picture how Egypt will be able to emerge from this crisis unless its people come together to find a nonviolent and inclusive path forward,” Mr. Burns said.
Advisers to Mr. Morsi and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood have said that United States officials pushed him to try to reach some accommodation with the generals before his removal and have continued to urge the Brotherhood leaders to reach some agreement to participate in the political process under the new military-led government. His visit to Cairo was the first by a senior United States official since the takeover.
The Brotherhood has refused, deeming the new government undemocratic and illegitimate. United States officials have declined to comment on their role. Mr. Burns spoke against the backdrop of a standoff between the interim government and tens of thousands of Islamists who have staged a sit-in protest against the ouster of Mr. Morsi.
Leaders of the Brotherhood vowed Monday to escalate their street protests, centered in a Cairo neighborhood near the Defense Ministry and presidential palace. They have called for marches and possible street blockades in the afternoon and evening after another day of fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Mr. Burns urged both sides to take steps toward reconciliation. “The government itself has said it wants inclusion of all political streams,” he said. “We have called on the military to avoid any politically motivated arrests. And we have also called upon those who differ with the government to adhere to their absolute obligation to participate peacefully.”
In a further sign of the country’s divisions, Islamist militants in Sinai used rocket-propelled grenades to attack a bus early Monday, killing three people and injuring 17, state media reported. He did not mention Mr. Morsi by name, nor the Islamist movement behind him, the Muslim Brotherhood. When an Egyptian journalist asked how the new government responded to American calls for Mr. Morsi’s release from detention, Mr. Burns said only: “We have made our views clear on that issue.”
The assault on the bus is part of a sharp uptick in violence in the relatively lawless Sinai region since Mr. Morsi’s ouster. Mr. Morsi’s opponents blame his Islamist allies in the Muslim Brotherhood for encouraging the retaliation, but leaders of the group say it has not condoned violence in Egypt since the British occupation. Speaking at a moment when anti-American sentiment is running high on all sides, Mr. Burns said he had “no illusions” about the number of Egyptians who have deep suspicions of the United States.
Although the attacks are very likely carried out by more militant Islamists angry at Mr. Morsi’s removal, some Brotherhood leaders have gone as far as suggesting that Egyptian intelligence agencies manufactured the violence or reports of violence as a way to cast blame on the Brotherhood. Mr. Morsi’s supporters accuse Washington of giving its blessing to the military’s removal of Mr. Morsi, the country’s first elected president. Their opponents say the Obama administration wrongly supported Mr. Morsi’s Islamist government. Banners in Tahrir Square — the frequent focal point of protest — and elsewhere denounce President Obama as an enabler of the Brotherhood and depict the American ambassador to Egypt, Anne W. Patterson, with a large X over her face.
The developments came a day after the military-based government said Sunday that it was freezing the assets of 14 Islamist allies of the ousted president, stepping up pressure on Mr. Morsi’s supporters to back down from their continuing public protests. Mr. Burns emphasized repeatedly that the United States did not back any individuals or parties in Egypt, only the principle of an open and inclusive transition to a democracy. He said Washington hoped the “ongoing transition” would be “a chance to learn some of the lessons and correct some of the mistakes of the past two years.”
Officials associated with the military takeover say they want all factions, including the Islamists, to participate in forming a government and competing for a new Parliament. But the Islamists object to the military overthrow of an elected government and a newly ratified Constitution. They note that the generals are proceeding with the extralegal detention of the president, as well as with the arrests of scores of top Islamist leaders. He expressed hope that the new military-led government’s plan for constitutional amendments and elections would “hasten Egypt’s return to a democratically elected civilian government as soon as possible.” That plan, known as the road map, calls for a small panel of chosen judges and jurists to draft amendments that would be reviewed by a 50-person assembly for two months, followed by a national referendum. But the broader political process in Egypt has all but shut down, with the government locking up Islamist leaders and silencing their satellite television networks, while the Islamists — who took almost 75 percent of the seats in the last parliamentary elections — refuse to participate in what they consider an anti-democratic process.
Among others, the asset freeze hit Khairat el-Shater, a millionaire businessman who is both the chief financier and the chief strategist of the Brotherhood. Because of Mr. Shater’s importance to the group, he was subjected to long years in prison and asset seizures under former President Hosni Mubarak, and he sometimes handled the group’s negotiations with Mr. Mubarak’s government from inside his jail cell. But Mr. Burns said, perhaps optimistically, “My sense is that people realize that what is most important is that the process be transparent and inclusive,” with broad participation from an informed public.
The freeze also included the Brotherhood’s spiritual leader, Mohamed Badie, and the leader of its political arm, Saad el-Katatni, the former speaker of Parliament. Mr. Morsi is being detained without any legal warrant, but the new government has charged the other Islamist leaders with inciting violence. Leaders of the Brotherhood said on Monday that they would escalate the street protests, centered in a Cairo neighborhood near the Defense Ministry and presidential palace. They have called for marches and possible street blockades in the afternoon and evening, after another day of fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Also on Sunday, the interim president, Adli Mansour, swore in as vice president Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel Prize-winning diplomat who has been the highest-profile public defender of the takeover. Mr. Mansour is expected to announce a full cabinet of as many as 30 ministers this week. In a further sign of the country’s divisions, Islamist militants in Sinai used rocket-propelled grenades to attack a bus early Monday, killing three people and injuring 17, state media reported. The assault on the bus is part of a sharp uptick in violence in the relatively lawless Sinai region since Mr. Morsi’s ouster. Mr. Morsi’s opponents blame his Islamist allies in the Muslim Brotherhood for encouraging the retaliation, but leaders of the group say it has not condoned violence in Egypt since the British occupation.