Brotherhood says media reports of reconciliation attempts not accurate

Ahram Online , Sunday 20 Oct 2013

Brotherhood leading figure Mohammed Ali Bishr says there are no new reconciliation initiatives with government on the table

Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood figure Mohamed Ali Bishr

A leading member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood says there are no reconciliation initiatives currently on the table.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera, Mohammed Ali Bishr said media coverage concerning reconciliation attempts is not accurate.

Bishr, who is also a member of the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy, said the group refused a dialogue initiative suggested earlier this month by Islamist lawyer Ahmed Kamal Abul-Magd.

Interim authorities have intensified the crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters following the ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in July.

Since then, reconciliation attempts by international and local intermediaries have been ongoing, the most recent of which was the initiative suggested by Aboul Maged, in which he proposed that Islamists acknowledge the interim 'revolutionary authority' as a first step towards national dialogue.

Bishr, a representative of the Brotherhood in the talks, said Abul-Magd contacted him not the other way around.

"Security solutions are not the way for Egypt to return to the democratic path," Bishr said.

The Building and Development Party, the political wing of Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya, and one of the parties in the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy, said the group will soon propose another initiative.

Details concerning the next round of talks are not yet clear, but a tendency towards more flexibility is expected as Islamist groups might retreat from demanding the reinstatement of Morsi in return for the release of political detainees and the easing of demonstrations.

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