(AFP Photo)
By Fady Ashraf
The Alliance of Egyptian Americans (AEA) has not issued an initiative to solve Egypt’s political crisis, said organisation member Dr Ahmed Gaith, saying it was an individual member effort up for discussion on Saturday.
The five-point-initiative demands that the Muslim Brotherhood abandon any demands that include the return of the ousted president Mohamed Morsi or the 2012 constitution, saying that they have been widely refused by Egyptians on 30 June.
The initiative calls on the Brotherhood to clearly disclose all of the group’s funding, both domestic and international and to pledge to abandon their goal of “building an Islamic Caliphate.”
It also requested that the Brotherhood guarantee to renounce prejudice against personal freedoms or freedoms of thought or creed and to recognise that Egyptian national benefit should come above any other “dogmatic considerations.”
The last point of the initiative stated that if these points are fulfilled, Egyptians can consider the Brotherhood as a political front and be ready to engage in negotiations with other parties and achieve a political solution within the roadmap laid down after the 30 June protests.
The alliance noted that it follows the news in Egypt with sorrow and mourns every death “without regard to their affiliation,” describing current events as “the major strife”.
Saad Omara, Freedom and Justice Party leader, said that initiative had been “totally rejected” and that any solution that does not include “the return of legitimacy”, represented in Morsi’s reinstatement as well the return of 2012 constitution and Shura Council, will not be considered. He added that the Brotherhood would continue its peaceful sit-ins in Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Al Nahda squares.
Dalia Zeyada, researcher at Ibn Khaldoun Centre for political studies, said that any dialogue with the Brotherhood will not be beneficial and that the organisation had refused the state’s invitation for reconciliation, so it should not be included in roadmap negotiations.
The Alliance of Egyptian Americans in a non-profit NGO whose members are Americans of Egyptian descent.
