Pro-Morsi alliance rejects foreign intervention in Burns meeting
Ahram Online, Sunday 4 Aug 2013
The Alliance reveals several of their statements made at meeting with US envoy Bill Burns, including a call for investigations


The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy expresses strong opposition to "foreign intervention" in Egyptian affairs in Saturday's meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns.

The alliance, an Islamist umbrella in support of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, said in a statement released late Saturday that it furthermore told Burns it rejects US Secretary of State John Kerry's recentcomments on Egypt.

Kerry had said that the Egyptian military had acted to "restore democracy" and save the country from violence by ousting Morsi on 3 July after major nationwide protests. Initially, the US viewed Morsi's ouster as a military coup, but Kerry's statement to Pakistan's Geo television Thursday is another sign of a change in approach.

The alliance, however, welcomes the international condemnation of the violence taking place recently and says they expressed so in the meeting with Kerry. It also called for a "neutral international investigation" into "breaches of human rights against peaceful protesters" since Morsi's ouster.

Clashes between Morsi's supporters and his opponents or security forces have left about 200 dead and hundreds injured, mostly civilian pro-Morsi demonstrators, since his ouster.

The alliance also asserted that its protests are completely peaceful and free of any arms, inviting any international rights organisations to visit their sit-ins and check.

Unofficial claims have been circulating that Morsi's supporters have arms in their sit-ins. Amnesty International issued a statement on Friday that quote eyewitnesses who claim torture had taken place at the sit-ins, urging an investigation.

The alliance also said it still rejects what it describes as a "military coup" against Morsi, Egypt's first democratically-elected president.

The alliance's meeting with Burns included Mohamed Ali Beshr and Amr Darrag, two former ministers in Morsi's last Cabinet, as well as senior Brotherhood members, Tarek El-Malt, leading member of Wasat Party and Hoda Abd El-Moneim, Brotherhood member and member of the National Council for Human Rights.

Burns arrived in Cairo on Friday on his second visit to the country in three weeks and is expected to leave on Sunday.

He held a series of meetings with Egyptian officials and political figures, including Minister of Foreign Affairs Nabil Fahmy and Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei.

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