Cairo – US President Barack Obama called embattled Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi to urge him to respond to mass opposition demonstrations and said the political crisis could only be resolved by talks, the White House said on Tuesday.
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Obama also called on both sides to ensure rallies stayed peaceful, after the death toll in clashes between rival protesters since Sunday reached at least 16 people.
Egypt’s armed forces on Monday handed the president a virtual ultimatum to share power, giving feuding politicians 48 hours to compromise or have the army impose its own road map.
The president of the United States, which is a big aid donor to Egypt and its military, “told President Morsi that the United States is committed to the democratic process in Egypt and does not support any single party or group,” the White House said.
“President Obama encouraged President Morsi to take steps to show that he is responsive to their concerns, and underscored that the current crisis can only be resolved through a political process,” it said in a statement.
Obama, who is in Tanzania at the end of an eight-day visit to Africa, urged Morsi to create an inclusive political process.
“Democracy is about more than elections,” the statement said. “It is also about ensuring that the voices of all Egyptians are heard and represented by their government, including the many Egyptians demonstrating throughout the country.”
Obama repeated his concern about reports of violence during rallies, particularly reports of sexual assaults against women. He urged Morsi to make clear to his supporters that all forms of violence were unacceptable, the statement said.
obama and morsi have much in common–they were both intent on destroying democracy. The people of Egypt actually rose up and did something about it. Americans are still scratching their heads trying to figure out obamacare and how to deal with their diminishing freedoms.
This clown has no right to tell Morsi to listen to the will of his people until he does so himself first. He’s a professional hypocrite, and he is an embarrassment to United States. The overwhelming percentage of Americans have sounded off about many policies that he rammed through on Executive Order to bypass the representation of the population. What a national disgrace. So he tells Morsi to behave?
Obama has a love affair with the brotherhood
Morsi is a sludge bucker.
Debka is reporting that President Obama is backing the Moslem Brotherhood against the democratic protesters. He did the same with the Iranian regime when the Iranian people started the Green revolution, enabling the ayatollahs to brutally crush its democratic opponents.
This is not good. Driving out president by mob is not a way to establish a democracy.
Ideally Mursi should be forced to serve out his term, with his ability to do anything bound tightly by opposition in parliament and his own cabinet. In this way, a tradition of a weak president model can be started.
Further, driving out the Islamists is a prescription for disaster. Several hundred thousand Egyptians will be “outside the tent peeing in” rather than the reverse. Make them rule and force them to collect the trash and deliver the mail. That will calm them down.
We are aiming for an Egypt that is so concerned with its own internal government that it will have little time or desire to cause trouble elsewhere.
This road does not lead there.