Egypt army chief holds talks with opposition

Egyptian Army chief Abdel Fatah El Sisi met overnight with leaders from the different Islamist movements to try and resolve the crisis pitting supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi against the country’s new rulers. Sisi “met with several representatives of the Islamist movements . . . and stressed that there are opportunities for a peaceful solution to the crisis provided all sides reject violence,” army spokesman Colonel Ahmed Aly said in a statement yesterday, without specifying who his interlocutors were.

Al Jazeera’s Hoda Abdel Hamid, reporting from Cairo, said the Muslim Brotherhood was not at the meeting, but other Islamist movements were.
“This is quite significant in the sense that those who met with Sisi can go back to the Muslim Brotherhood and relay the message, so it implies indirect communication.”

She went on to say that it is possible the Muslim Brotherhood “is looking for some concessions before joining political negotiations. They are trying to find gains before they sit and talk.”

“Everyone realises the importance of the Muslim Brotherhood being involved in the political process, otherwise there will be no process.”
Morsi supporters have been holding two major sit-ins for more than a month, paralysing parts of the capital, Cairo, and deepening divisions.

Authorities have repeatedly called for an end to sit-ins, and promised the protesters a safe exit if they went home.
The news of the military chief’s crisis meetings comes amid diplomatic push by the US and the EU.

The political arm of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, which met US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns on Saturday, reiterated its continued commitment to “legitimacy, which stipulated the return of the president, the constitution and the Shura Council,” referring to the upper house of parliament. The US envoy’s visit, which followed trips by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, was the latest move in a diplomatic drive to break the deadlock in Egypt.

He was expected to meet the interim interior minister and defence minister later yesterday.
The latest declaration by the Brotherhood suggested that Burns’s visit had failed to shift their position.

“We affirm our welcome of any political solutions proposed on the basis of constitutional legitimacy and rejection of the coup,” said the statement from the Freedom and Justice Party. — AFP.