Western envoys seek to avert Egypt bloodbath

Egypt’s army-backed rulers and allies of its deposed Islamist president gave the first signs on Saturday of a readiness to compromise, pressed by Western envoys trying to head off more bloodshed. Faced with the threat of a crackdown on supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, diplomacy appeared to pick up pace, a month to the day since Egypt’s army deposed President Mohamed Morsi and plunged the country into turmoil.

Recognizing for the first time the strength of popular protest against his one-year rule, Morsi's allies said they respected the demands of millions who took to the streets before his overthrow.

A spokesman said the Morsi camp, which has refused to abandon weeks of sit-in protests until he is reinstated, wanted a solution that would "respect all popular desires."

They told envoys from the United States and the European Union that they rejected any role in a political settlement for army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led Morsi's ouster, and wanted the constitution he suspended to be restored.

"I respect and hold in regard the demands of the masses that went out on June 30, but I will not build on the military coup," spokesman Tarek El-Malt told Reuters, relaying what the pro-Morsi delegation had told the envoys.

Asked whether the delegation had insisted on Morsi's reinstatement as part of any political deal, Malt, a member of the Brotherhood-affiliated Wasat party, said that was a detail for future discussion.

But given that Morsi's opponents insist he should not be part of the political solution, Malt said that "Sisi must also not be in the political equation". He said the pro-Morsi camp was ready to talk with the National Salvation Front, a loose alliance of leftist and liberal parties represented in the interim government installed by the army.

Egypt’s military has laid out a "road map" to elections in about six months. It promises a return to civilian government, having brought down the first freely elected president after 60 years of rule by military men.

The Brotherhood, an Islamist movement that spent decades in the shadows before winning power in elections after the 2011 fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, had spurned the road map.

But its supporters, camped out at two sites in Cairo, face the threat of being violently dispersed by security forces who shot dead 80 of them a week ago. Almost 300 people have been killed in political violence since Morsi's overthrow, and much of the movement's leadership is in custody.

The deposed president is being held in a secret location, under investigation on a raft of charges including murder.

Analysts say civilians in the new government are also trying to promote a political solution despite resistance from security services that want to take a hard line on the Brotherhood.

"Rage is the easiest thing. It is the easiest thing to say, 'Let's crush the Brotherhood'," interim Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei told Al-Hayat TV. "There is no solution in Egypt that can be based on exclusion. Salafists, Brotherhood, secularists, liberals, whoever, we are condemned to live together."

He said talks with outside envoys would focus on "specific steps" to reduce tensions. "We will discuss together how in the next 48 hours how we can halt the violence, reducing the number of protests."

Stepping back from a threat to disperse the Brotherhood protests, the government said on Friday it would blockade the camps, but not storm them.

On Saturday, the Interior Ministry offered protesters a "safe exit" and political integration. Spokesman General Hany Abdel Latif said they had been "brainwashed."

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and European Union envoy Bernadino Leon were leading the diplomatic push, meeting Morsi's allies, interim Foreign minister Nabil Fahmy and interim President Adli Mansour.

Fahmy told reporters there had been some contact with the Brotherhood, "I wouldn't use the word negotiation. There have been contacts between different figures. There is no desire to use force if there is any other avenue that has any potential for success," he said.

The interim government gained the United States' approval on Thursday when Secretary of State John Kerry said the army had been "restoring democracy" when it toppled Morsi. Cairo remains central to U.S. policy in the Middle East, notably because of its peace agreement with Israel.

Reuters