Egyptian police will blockade a Muslim Brotherhood protest camp set up by supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi but hold off from storming the site, state TV said on Friday. The decision should lessen the chance of a bloody showdown between protestors and security forces and follows diplomatic efforts and international appeals to the new army-installed government to avoid further violence in the political crisis.
Thousands of Morsi supporters at the camps had been girding for a confrontation with security forces after the government warned earlier this week they should give up or face action. "The idea of storming the camp by force is one rejected by the Interior Ministry, but a blockade will be imposed in all the streets leading to Rabaa," state TV's security correspondent reported from outside the Interior Ministry. He was referring to Rabaa al-Adawiya, site of the biggest of two protests by the Brotherhood in Cairo.
Almost 300 people have died in political violence since Morsi was overthrown on July 3, including 80 of his supporters killed by security forces in clashes on July 27. Morsi, who became Egypt's first freely elected president in June 2012, had faced weeks of demonstrations against his rule. Many Egyptians were frustrated by his failure to get to grips with social and economic problems and feared he was leading the country towards stricter Islamist control. Morsi is now in custody at a secret location. The turmoil has left Egypt more polarised than at any time since US-backed autocrat Hosni Mubarak was toppled in 2011.
US ENDORSEMENT The government gained a US seal of approval late on Thursday when US Secretary of State John Kerry said the army had been "restoring democracy" when it toppled Morsi - Washington's strongest endorsement yet for the new leadership. "The military was asked to intervene by millions and millions of people, all of whom were afraid of a descent into chaos, into violence," Kerry told GEO TV in Pakistan.
"And the military did not take over, to the best of our judgement - so far." Washington's efforts to studiously avoid calling Morsi's overthrow a "military coup" has left it open to charges of sending mixed messages about events in Egypt, long a bulwark of US Middle East policy.
Mohamed Ali Bishr, a senior Brotherhood leader and a minister in Morsi's former government, said the movement was disappointed by Kerry's statement. "The United States is a country that speaks of democracy and human rights and they say something like that. I hope that they rethink their position and correct it," he told Reuters. Stepping up diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis, US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns will arrive in Cairo on Friday night and meet interim Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy.
It was not known whether he would also hold talks with army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the man who ousted Morsi. The head of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, the party to which the prime minister belongs, said mediation by the United States and the European Union was crucial because the Islamists were not talking to other Egyptians.
Mohamed Abolghar also said he wanted to see a political agreement with the Muslim Brotherhood to avoid a forceful break-up of the protest camps. "It should be handled very carefully, preferably it should come after a negotiation," Abolghar told Reuters.
The deal should guarantee the Brotherhood's peaceful participation in politics and lead to the release of detained leaders who had not committed any crimes, he added. "The Muslim Brotherhood are here and they will continue to be here and they must continue to be involved in political life," he said. A Western diplomat said the civilian leadership wanted to give the political process a chance to bear fruit and did not want to see violence.
"Those empowered to speak for the (Brotherhood's) Freedom and Justice Party understand that Morsi is not coming back. But they are maintaining that as a negotiating position." Political sources said there had been intense debate within the cabinet on the wisdom of sending in the security forces to clear the protesters. European Union envoy Bernardino Leon, in Cairo trying to calm tensions, said on Thursday the European Union would not easily accept the use of violence to break up the protest camps.