File Photo: Egyptian Presidential Spokesman Ehab Badawi.
Egyptian authorities have made progress in promoting stability and have convinced the world of how and why elected leader Mohamed Morsi was removed from power, a spokesperson for interim president Adly Mansour has claimed.
Ihab Badawi said in an interview published on Tuesday in the pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that the new government had succeeded in showing “the US, the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU)” the "truth about the 30 June protests” that culminated in the army’s deposition of Mohamed Morsi on 3 July.
The AU suspended Egypt's membership shortly after Morsi's removal, citing AU legislation against “unconstitutional changes of government.” However, a high-level AU panel met with Egyptian officials earlier in September and said it hoped all Egyptian forces would come together around the transitional roadmap, including Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood.
Similarly, the US and the EU criticised Morsi's removal and condemned a deadly security crackdown on pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo and Giza on 14 August that killed around 600 people. The government claimed the sit-ins were posing a threat to public security. Since then, Morsi loyalists have been staging regular demonstrations nationwide.
Badawi said: “The truth of what really happened is now clearer” to these international forces, adding that “diplomatic efforts by Saudi Arabia and the UAE” had played a role in this.
Following Morsi’s ouster, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait pledged up to $12 billion in the form of aid, loans and fuel shipments to Egypt.
The spokesman also said there was progress in the state’s “battle against terrorism in Sinai” and elsewhere in Egypt.
The army has been staging operations against “terrorists” in the restive peninsula where attacks on security forces have soared following Morsi’s ouster. Battles between security forces and suspected Islamic militants have left dozens dead on both sides.
Badawi also said the state was committed to the transitional roadmap and its timeframe, adding that the overnight curfew, implemented alongside a state of emergency, would be lifted when “the security situation improves.”
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