El-Beblawy fears no civil war in Egypt

Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawy said he does "not fear civil war" in Egypt, warning that any decision by Washington to cut military aid to Egypt "will be a bad sign and will badly affect the military for some time." Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have pledged billions of dollars in aid to the new Egyptian government in recent weeks and Beblawi said Egypt's army could survive without the $1.3 billion in military aid from the United States. "Let's not forget that Egypt went with the Russian military for support and we survived. So, there is no end to life. You can live with different circumstances," he told ABC News chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz in Cairo. "We are sorry that at this moment there is a kind of misunderstanding [between the U.S. and Egypt]," Beblawy said. "There is a lot of misunderstanding and I'm sure that the time will work to the benefit of both sides." He added, "I cannot exclude the fact that we need the U.S. as much as the U.S. needs us." "Really, in truth, I do not fear civil war," he said. "But I do not exclude that we will have some continuous problems in the coming weeks. Perhaps coming months". "But civil war and the type we have seen in some neighbors, I don't think that Egypt is on this path." About violence in the country, he said the death toll amounted to "only several hundred. Perhaps close to a thousand." He added that "there were many victims on both sides." The Muslim Brotherhood says thousands of unarmed protesters died when security forces rolled into the sit-in at Raba'a Al Adaweya, but Beblawy defended the operation, saying he would do nothing differently if given the chance. "The fact of the matter is they were not peaceful," he said of the protesters. "Before the assault was taken they announced in loud speakers asking people to come peacefully out and there are some exit for them, no one would be held responsible, so they tried everything. ... "We announced that telling them this cannot continue, that this is bad, we are open for dialogue but they insisted and they had weapons and it was discovered they used weapons." Beblawy continued, "What happened is bad. It's not a kind of remorse. When you see people dying from one side or the other, you cannot say I have remorse, but you feel bad because this is human blood. So you're telling me do you have no remorse? I have no remorse but I feel very, very bad." "The U.S. did not appreciate the will of the people," Beblawy said. "Don't forget 30 million took the street for freedom [to oust Morsi]. They have another idea of freedom and they took the street for freedom. They want Morsi out." He added, "deep in the heart of many Egyptians they value very highly the principles that America stands for freedom democracy respect of others. What we don't like sometimes is politics when you takes sides against us," he said. Beblawy said the interim government is committed to " true democratic government." "We are very keen to end this transitional period. I definitely think that we're talking about between six and nine months we will have elections," he said. About the possibility that ex-president Hosni Mubarak will be released by court, he said this is up to the judicial system in Egypt to decide, stressing that every citizen has the right to have a fair trial