Post by peterd on Mar 5, 2013 11:52:23 GMT -8
Egyptian Opposition: U.S. Sec'y Of State John Kerry Is Interfering In Egypt's Internal Affairs
Newly appointed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's first visit to Egypt in his present capacity, on March 2-3, 2013, was met with objections from most opposition elements in the country. These elements expressed their displeasure at February 28, 2013 statements by a U.S. State Department spokesman that "the U.S. position is... that we encourage all political parties and individuals with an interest in representing the Egyptian people to participate in [the parliamentary] elections"[1] planned for April 2013. These statements were perceived as a call to the opposition to reverse its decision to boycott the elections.[2] Opposition spokesmen perceived Kerry's visit as an American attempt to pressure the opposition, describing this as unacceptable interference in Egypt's internal affairs and as American backing to the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) regime led by President Muhammad Mursi.
Even before Kerry's March 2, 2013 arrival in Cairo, some opposition circles announced that they would greet him with protests, and would pelt him with tomatoes and eggs. The National Association for Change, founded by Mohammad ElBaradei – one of the heads of the National Salvation Front, which is the umbrella organization of the Egyptian opposition – called Kerry a persona non grata in Egypt, and held a demonstration on March 3 outside the Egyptian Foreign Ministry in protest against the American call to the opposition to participate in the elections. During the demonstration, protestors burned a drawing of Kerry with an Islamic-style beard that was captioned "Brother Kerry in Egypt."[3]
www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/7049.htm
Newly appointed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's first visit to Egypt in his present capacity, on March 2-3, 2013, was met with objections from most opposition elements in the country. These elements expressed their displeasure at February 28, 2013 statements by a U.S. State Department spokesman that "the U.S. position is... that we encourage all political parties and individuals with an interest in representing the Egyptian people to participate in [the parliamentary] elections"[1] planned for April 2013. These statements were perceived as a call to the opposition to reverse its decision to boycott the elections.[2] Opposition spokesmen perceived Kerry's visit as an American attempt to pressure the opposition, describing this as unacceptable interference in Egypt's internal affairs and as American backing to the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) regime led by President Muhammad Mursi.
Even before Kerry's March 2, 2013 arrival in Cairo, some opposition circles announced that they would greet him with protests, and would pelt him with tomatoes and eggs. The National Association for Change, founded by Mohammad ElBaradei – one of the heads of the National Salvation Front, which is the umbrella organization of the Egyptian opposition – called Kerry a persona non grata in Egypt, and held a demonstration on March 3 outside the Egyptian Foreign Ministry in protest against the American call to the opposition to participate in the elections. During the demonstration, protestors burned a drawing of Kerry with an Islamic-style beard that was captioned "Brother Kerry in Egypt."[3]
www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/7049.htm
