Egyptian diplomat clarifies present situation to EU envoys

Egyptian Deputy Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Hatem Seif al-Nasr The Egyptian Deputy Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Hatem Seif al-Nasr, met with a number of European Union ambassadors on Monday to clarify and explain recent developments in Egypt .
He presented a number of video clips showing violence launched by members of armed groups in Egypt, including attacks against police stations, churches, mosques and public property.
The Egyptian diplomat explained that the country is now witnessing a critical phase but highlighted the ability of the Egyptian government to overcome the current crisis.
Nasr told the ambassadors that the majority of the Egyptian people support the government and want to achieve the objectives of the July 3 revolution.
He said the government provided protesters affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood with the opportunity to end their sit-in peacefully, adding that security forces only intervened to protect local citizens from attempts to intimidate them.
Nasr said security forces took all necessary measures to break up the sit-in in Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adaweya and Nahda Square adding that civil society organizations and several media outlets witnessed this.
According to Nasr, protesters opened fire first, leading to the death of several members of the security forces.
The Egyptian diplomat stressed the importance of his country's relationship with the European Union, adding that ties are based on mutual respect and common interests. He denounced any foreign interference in Egypt's internal affairs and criticised the position adopted by a number of EU countries towards the situation in Egypt.
Meanwhile Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy, in Sudan on his first trip abroad, after hundreds died in clashes between Egyptian Islamists and security forces, said Egypt is on the "right path."
"Yes there is a crisis but we are on the right path and I believe in the future," he said after talks with his Sudanese counterpart Ali Karti.
Fahmy said Egypt would push ahead with its "roadmap", an army-drafted plan providing for elections in 2014.
"Our top priority is the national security of Egypt," the minister said.
"The coming Egyptian political system will be a democratic, open regime and open to all according to constitutional rules that will be written soon."
Fahmy warned, however, that anyone resorting to violence would be held to account "under the law", and would be left out of Egypt's future.
A former ambassador to Washington, Fahmy was sworn in as part of an interim government after the Egyptian military toppled the country's Islamist president Mohammed Morsi on July 3.
The ouster of Morsi, a former Muslim Brotherhood leader who became his country's first freely-elected president last year, followed popular mass protests calling for his resignation.
But almost 800 people have died in Egypt since last Wednesday when security forces moved to disperse two Cairo protest camps of Morsi's supporters, drawing global condemnation including from Sudan whose government calls itself Islamist.
Egypt's military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pledged a "forceful" response to further attacks on police and government buildings.
Such attacks, said Fahmy, "confirmed that there is a plan to spread fear among Egyptian citizens and to shake Egypt.
"We will not allow anyone to make Egyptians fearful."
Fahmy said his regime wants to clarify the situation for its neighbours "especially Sudan", which Egypt and Britain jointly ruled until 1956.
Morsi was accused Monday of complicity in the deaths and torture of protesters outside his presidential palace in late 2012, judicial sources said.
He already stands accused of crimes related to his 2011 escape from prison, and the new allegations mean his current detention will be extended by 15 days started next week.