Aug. 6, 2013
Brotherhood’s spokesman, Gehad al-Haddad, said on Monday that only Morsi can “solve the mess” in the North African country, adding that the only solution to the crisis was “full restoration of constitutional legitimacy and reversal of the coup.”
His remarks came in reaction to US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns’s meeting with Muslim Brotherhood official Khairat el-Shater in prison on the same day.
Official MENA news agency reported that Burns along with senior diplomats of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates visited Shater at Cairo’s high security prison in Tora.
Shater was arrested on charges of inciting violence nearly a month ago. He is due to stand trial on August 25 together with senior Brotherhood leader, Rashad Bayoumi, and Brotherhood supreme leader, Mohamed Badie.
Earlier on Monday, European Union envoy Bernardino Leon also met with Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi.
According to Haddad, Shater cut the meeting with Burns short and urged him to talk to the ousted president instead.
The meeting was part of Western and Arab efforts to end the Egyptian crisis.
Senior US senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham are also in Egypt to hold talks with the country’s officials with regard to the crisis.
Meanwhile, supporters of Morsi remain camped out in two major cross-roads in Cairo, demanding his return to power.
The National Defense Council has warned protesters against the continuation of the sit-ins.
Tension has intensified in Egypt since July 3 when the head of the Egyptian armed forces, General Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi removed Morsi from office. Sisi also suspended the constitution and dissolved the parliament.
Scores of Egyptians, most of them supporters of Morsi, have been killed or injured in the violence ever since his ouster.