Ashton urges Egypt rulers to end stand-off with Brotherhood

EU's foreign policy chief has appealed for restraint as protests continue in Cairo Europe's top diplomat pressed Egypt's rulers on Monday to step back from a growing confrontation with the Muslim Brotherhood of deposed president Mohammed Morsi, two days after 72 of his supporters were gunned down in Cairo.
Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief, became the first overseas envoy to visit the Egypt since Saturday's carnage, the second mass killing of Morsi supporters by security forces since he was overthrown by the army on July 3 following mass demonstrations.
Ashton met with Egypt’s interim Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, ?Minister of Defence and Deputy Prime Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and Foreign Minister Nabil ?Fahmy.?
Before the talks began, Ashton said she would press for a "fully inclusive transition process, taking in all political groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood".
Saturday’s bloodshed triggered global anxiety that the army may move to crush the Muslim Brotherhood, which emerged from decades in the shadows to win power in the wake of Egypt's 2011 Arab Spring uprising against Hosni Mubarak.
In comments carried by Egypt’s official MENA state news agency, ElBaradei said he had told Ashton that the country's new leadership was doing all in its power to "reach a peaceful way out of the current crisis, that preserves the blood of all Egyptians."
ElBaradei also discussed on ways to end the violence and the importance of all political parties cooperating to implement the roadmap which ?was announced on July 3.?
Sisi announced a roadmap, in cooperation with political and religious figures, which would see constitutional reforms and parliamentary and presidential elections brought in in Morsi’s wake.
But Morsi supporters have rejected the plan as part of a military coup.
Military sources present at the talks said to Arab Today that Ashton asked Sissi to commit to the roadmap ?without resorting to violence, and dealing cautiously with demonstrations and protection ?the protesters.?
Meanwhile, Badr Abdel Atty, a spokesman for the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Foreign ?Minister Nabil Fahmy met with Ashton on Monday to discuss a number of important ?regional issues including the Syrian crisis and the ?Nahda Dam issue.?
The spokesman said that the two also discussed recent events in Egypt and the importance of achieving national reconciliation and involving all parties in the current political process to apply the roadmap.
Ashton is also expected to meet members of the Freedom and Justice Party, the Muslim Brotherhood's political wing.
Her influence however is limited. The United States is Egypt's main Western backer and the source of $1.3 billion in military aid, though the EU is the biggest civilian aid donor to the country, the Arab world's most populous and a strategic bridge between the Middle East and North Africa.
Raising the prospect of more violnce, the Brotherhood said it would march again on Monday evening towards a military intelligence headquarters.