EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton arrived in the Egyptian capital for crisis talks with interim President Adly Mansour, interim Prime Minister Hezam Beblawy and other members of the makeshift cabinet Wednesday, confirmed a statement by her office.
Ahead of her departure to Cairo, Ashton said she intended to “reinforce our message that there must be a fully inclusive political process, taking in all groups which support democracy. I will underline that Egypt needs to return as rapidly as possible to its democratic transition. The EU is determined to help the Egyptian people on their journey to a better future of real freedom and economic growth”.
Ashton’s visit came after she led Europe’s foreign ministers in expressing concern over the Egyptian military’s continued stranglehold on the country’s governance Monday, following its ousting of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi amid widespread demonstrations which greeting the first anniversary of his election as Egypt’s first democratic leader earlier this month. In a statement on behalf of the EU echoing previous comments insisting she was “following the recent developments in Egypt with deep concern”, he called on the army to “accept and respect the constitutional authority of the civilian power as a basic principle of democratic governance”.
Calling for early democratic elections following “a broad-based and substantial dialogue, inclusive of all those political forces committed to democratic principles”, she made only a vague reference to the reported detention of the ousted Morsi at the headquarters of the Republican Guard, as she urged “the interim authorities to make every effort so that politically motivated arrests and other forms of harassments do not take place”.
Neglecting referencing the former leader by name, she concluded: “Two and a half years ago the Egyptian people demanded freedom, dignity, and social justice. The aspirations for a better Egypt are as strong and urgent as ever. It is vital for their own country and the region that all sides rise above self-interest and work towards an open, democratic and reforming Egypt.”
Europe’s reticence to condemn the democratic leader’s ousting of power by the military, which held more widespread powers prior to 2011’s popular uprising which in turn forced previous longterm secular authoritarian leader Hosni Munarak from office, has not gone unnoticed by Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood’s principle allies in the region.
Speaking to private broadcaster NTV also Monday, Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davitoglu expressed concern that “in some way, the army staged a coup and it has been justified by foreign countries – or at least they have remained silent about declaring it illegitimate”.
“Our foremost mission is to eliminate the possibility of making a reverse domino effect over external legitimacy. If we all allow something wrong in Egypt, there will be a reverse domino effect,” he added, warning of the potential dangers for the entire region should the post-Arab Spring transitional democracies begin to tumble one by one.
Military intervention in suppressing the legitimately-assumed power of democratically-elected political parties could in turn pave the way to power for radical elements in the country, he further cautioned. “It is not clear where the tendency of radicalization will stop. Therefore, once the Muslim Brotherhood or any other political groups are barred from politics, the results will increase the spiral of violence in the region,” Davitoglu said.
Echoing EU rhetoric however, he insisted that “a country should obtain its power from the people if it wants to be stable. If this [taking power from people] ends, the debate over legitimacy starts. This is the main problem Egypt now,” he concluded.
By contrast, opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood party within the Arab world came out in open support of the hastily-appointed interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi last week. Saudi Arabia and the UAE committed $8 billion in aid to the economically-challenged transitional government in apparent support of the more secular candidate.
The British foreign office stood alone as one of the few EU member states to openly criticise the military initiative, as foreign office minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt made official comment on reports claiming that further arrest warrants had been issued in Egypt for a number of senior Muslim Brotherhood leaders.
“I am concerned by continuing reports of arrests and the detention of political figures in Egypt. While we understand the need to maintain security, Egypt’s pressing needs can only be met by pursuing a genuinely inclusive political process that involves all sides rising above self-interest and shunning violence to deliver the reform and democratic transfer the Egyptian people deserve,” he said.
“I continue to urge all parties in Egypt to work together to bring about elections that can be contested freely by all sides. Throughout this process, it’s vital that the authorities fully respect the rule of law and make good their promises to guarantee a media free from state interference. Arrests that are seen to be politicised cannot help build an inclusive process,” he added.
Last week, Egyptian judicial sources claimed senior Brotherhood officials were ordered to be held over the violence that erupted last Monday over Morsi’s reported detention at the Republicna Guard headquarters in Cairo, including Mr Badie's deputy Mahmoud Ezzat and party leaders Essam El-Erian and Mohamed El-Beltagi, amid calls from within the party for the leader to be reintstated.
Yet more staunch in her criticism of the current tensions was Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino . Describing the need to return to an inclusive democratic dialogue as “more crucial and urgent than ever” in a statement Saturday, she maintained that an “especially positive significance would be associated with a rapid solution to the case of Mohammed Morsi – of whom no news has been coming for several days now – and, in general, to the various cases of arbitrary arrest”.
“All political actors must enjoy the basic guarantees of open expression and peaceful participation in political life. And all political actors must demonstrate democratic trustworthiness by abstaining from every form of incitement to violence. In the pursuance of these objectives, specific responsibility rests with the interim government. Italy will not fail to ensure it support for that pursuance, with a view to upholding the hopes of the Egyptian people,” she concluded.
Meanwhile, the US State Department glossed over Turkish criticism of the response of the west to the latest developments regarding Morsi, despite their previous baking of the Islamist leader culminating in their joint cooperation to successfully negotiate last November’s ceasefire in Gaza, as department spokesman Jen Psaki conceded only Monday that “every country and every government is going to make their own choices”.
“Our focus is, of course, on encouraging an inclusive process moving forward. We’re certainly hopeful others will do the same. But beyond that I’m not going to place expectations on other countries on their involvement here,” she added. Last week, the US State Department succinctly echoed a call from the German foreign ministry for Morsi’s release.