Foreign diplomats fail to diffuse Egypt Islamist standoff

Egypt's VP Mohamed ElBaradei (R) with US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns Efforts by Western and Arab diplomats to mediate an end to Egypt's political deadlock between the interim government and Islamists have failed, the presidency said on Wednesday. "These efforts have not achieved the hoped for results," the presidency said of mediation by US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and EU envoy Bernardino Leon, among other diplomats who travelled to Cairo.
On Tuesday, two US senators held talks with Egypt's army chief and urged the country's divided political factions to renounce violence and agree to a national dialogue .
Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham met with army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, in the latest leg of a diplomatic flurry to defuse a crisis sparked by the army's ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.
At a press conference on Tuesday evening, the two asked Egypt's interim government to set forth a "clear timetable" for holding new elections and finalising a new constitution.
They also urged the government to reconcile with the Muslim Brotherhood and its political allies.
"You have to sit down and talk to each other, even though you may not like the people at the other side of the table," Graham said.
Both senators described the toppling of Morsi as a coup, a term which US President Barack Obama has avoided.
"It was a transition of power not by the ballot box," Graham said. "The people who were elected are now in jail."
Also on Tuesday, six British MPs held talks with foreign minister Nabil Fahmy, urging the state official to push for Egyptian reconciliation.
As tensions mounted over the looming breakup of two major sit-ins staged by Morsi loyalists, vice president Mohamed ElBaradei urged the Muslim Brotherhood to embrace a peaceful solution and called on the media to stop "demonising" the group.
Morsi has been formally remanded in custody on suspicion of offences committed when he escaped from prison during the 2011 revolt that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.
On Tuesday, prosecutors ordered the detention of two of his aides for 15 days pending investigation into deadly clashes between supporters and opponents of the deposed president outside the Ittihadiya presidential palace last December.
Morsi's secretary Ahmed Abdel-Aati and his security advisor Ayman Hodhod join a string of Islamist leaders in jail, including two deputies of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Egypt's political crisis, sparked by the military's July 3 overthrow of Morsi, has paralysed the country and deepened political polarisation and social divisions.
Morsi loyalists, mostly Brotherhood members, say the ouster of the country's first freely elected president violates democratic principles and nothing short of his reinstatement would end their sit-ins.
The interim leadership says there is no turning back on the army-drafted roadmap that provides for new elections in 2014.
More than 250 people have been killed since Morsi's ouster.
Additional source: AFP