Egypt’s leadership denounces ‘foreign pressure’

CAIRO— Amid a flurry of visits by American and other foreign dignitaries, Egypt’s interim presidency denounced “foreign pressure” on Tuesday in a sign of its growing impatience with international efforts to resolve a standoff with supporters of the ousted president that has left the country on the brink of another bout of violence and deadly street confrontations, according to AP.

The military-backed administration has held firm to a political road map announced the day Morsi was ousted by the military following mass protests calling on him to step down. But U.S. and other international officials have urged the inclusion of Morsi’s “Muslim Brotherhood” in the political process going forward. Top Egyptian officials said reconciliation is a priority but only after the” Brotherhood” renounces violence, , cases of torture against anti-Morsi protesters and blocking main roads.

Ahmed el-Musalamani, a spokesman for interim president Adly Mansour, told reporters that “foreign pressure has exceeded international standards,” adding that Egypt will protect “the revolution” in reference to June 30, the day hundreds of thousands of Egyptians revolted against Morsi’s rule.

El-Musalamani didn’t elaborate. However, his comments came as the country’s powerful military chief Gen. Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi, who also is defense minister, and Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei held separate meetings with Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and John McCain, who arrived in Cairo on Monday .

Egypt’s official news agency MENA reported that the two senators and el-Sissi discussed efforts to end “the state of political polarization and stop the violence” while moving forward with Egypt’s fast-track road map, according to which the constitution would be amended and new parliamentary and presidential elections held by early next year “without discrimination or isolation.”

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, who arrived Friday, also was meeting with Mansour and ElBaradei, a day after he held talks with detained “Muslim Brotherhood” leaders.

Last week, Morsi  was visited by the EU’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and a group of African statesmen, but the administration has said it will not allow any more envoys to visit him.

All talks are centered around averting collision between the government and “Muslim Brotherhood “supporters who have been camping out in two main sit-ins in Cairo and its sister city of Giza for more than a month .

The protest camps have been used as a hotbed for street marches that blocked traffic and sometimes sparked street violence either with security forces, or Morsi’s opponents.

The government said that it has ordered the security forces to clear out the two protest camps because they pose “national security threat.”

In an official statement, ElBaradei after meeting with Burns on Tuesday stressed that Egypt’s “priorities are to secure citizens and protect their lives, their possessions and to preserve security and law “.

R.S