Egypt President Vows to Battle for Security, Brotherhood Refuses Dealing with Him

Local Editor

Egyptian President Adly Mansour vowed on Thursday to battle for security "to the end", as Muslim Brother hood promised new protests against his army-installed interim government.

"We are at a decisive moment in Egypt's history, which some want to steer into the unknown," he said in a televised address.
He further vowed that he "will fight the battle for security to the end. We will preserve the revolution."

Mansour, a top judge appointed as caretaker leader after the military's overthrow of elected president Mohammed Mursi on July 3, again offered an olive branch to Mursi's backers.
But he also pledged "transitional justice," amid calls for the prosecution of Mursi and a crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood movement.
"The framework of justice and reconciliation extends to all," he said.
The Muslim Brotherhood has refused any dealings with Mansour and has said it will keep up its protests until Mursi is reinstated.

It has called for new rallies on Friday. Anti-Mursi groups have called for counter-demonstrations.

Meanwhile, Brotherhood officials who met EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and envoy Bernardino Leon said they believed European Union mediation could eventually lay the groundwork for a road map to restore Mursi's presidency before an election.

The military, which formally handed power to a transitional government headed by Mansour after overthrowing Mursi on July 3, has rejected any such outcome.
Gehad al-Haddad, a senior Muslim Brotherhood official, said he had met Leon at a Cairo square where the supporters have been staging a sit-in demanding Mursi's reinstatement.

"The discussion with Bernardino was on how to prepare talks," he said.

"Restoring legitimacy is non-negotiable," he said of Mursi's election as president and of the constitution and senate, which the army suspended when it toppled him.
Senior Brotherhood official Amr Darrag, who served as Mursi's international cooperation minister, said he had separately met Leon several days before Ashton visited Cairo Wednesday.

"He called me, through a Western ambassador. The main purpose of the meeting was to brainstorm," he added.

Leon "expressed aspirations that we get involved in the political process, political discussion."
At that meeting, and later with Ashton, Darrag said he told the diplomats it was "impossible to get engaged in the political process under the rules of a military coup."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team