Interim president Adly Mansour and several political groups have reacted angrily to US congressmen John McCain and Lindsey Graham’s use of the term coup in relation to the recent political upheaval. The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) welcomed the statements however.
McCain and Graham both labelled the 3 July overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi a military coup, and called for the release of Muslim Brotherhood leaders, in a meeting on Tuesday in Cairo with members of the government, the defence minister and supporters of Morsi.
According to state-run Al-Ahram, Mansour condemned the statements made by the senators, calling it an “unacceptable interference in Egypt’s domestic affairs.”
Spokesman for the 6 April Youth Movement Ahmed Shawky said the movement rejects McCain’s use of the term military coup, calling the senator’s statements “interfering with Egypt’s affairs.”
Shawky said the 30 June protests were “a second wave of the revolution.”
Ahmed Hawary, June 30 Front spokesmann, said the front opposed people visiting Brotherhood members in prison and they rejected these kinds of negotiations.
Hawary said: “It is known that McCain is a friend of [Khairat] El-Shater. McCain is trying to save the American-Brotherhood project. His presence is not welcome.”
Al-Tayar Al-Sha’aby spokeswoman Heba Yassin also called the congressmen’s visit “political interference with internal affairs” and rejected US involvement. “The Egyptian people do not accept it,” she said.
Hamdeen Sabahi, founder of Al-Tayar Al-Sha’aby, called the senators’ statements an “insult that the Egyptian people will not accept,” via Twitter.
Not all political groups opposed the statements however. Al-Wasat Party Spokesman Amr Farouk said of McCain’s statements: “This is the most courageous statement the American administration has said, this is the truth.”
Farouk added that the US calling the current situation a military coup is “brave.”
FJP spokesman Mohamed Soudan said the senators’ statements were “a step in the right direction” but they came late and have no influence on the ground.
Soudan said the US should begin treating Egypt the way its own constitution requires it to treat a country that has undergone a military coup, citing that the US should cut its aid and end communication with Egypt.
Soudan said the US always tries to hold the middle ground, when it should rather release an official statement identifying what took place as a military coup.
