EU's Ashton arrives in Cairo for talks

The European Union's top diplomat on Tuesday arrived in Cairo for a two-day visit during which she is expected to meet senior officials. Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, is scheduled to meet Wednesday with interim President Adly Mansour, Vice President for International Affairs Mohamed ElBaradei, Prime Minister-designate Hazem al-Beblawi, Defense Minister Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Foreign Minister-designate Nabil Fahmi, according to diplomatic sources. In a statement on Sunday, Ashton said the EU was following recent developments in Egypt "with deep concern". She said the Egyptian army "must accept and respect the constitutional authority of the civilian power." "It is of utmost importance that Egypt returns rapidly to a legitimate government and democratic structures responding to the democratic and socio-economic aspirations of the Egyptian people," she said. Ashton's visit will be the second by a high-level western official since the army's ouster early this month of elected president Mohammed Morsi. US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns left Cairo early on Tuesday after concluding the first visit by a senior US official since Morsi's ouster. While in Cairo, Burns met with several Egyptian officials, including Mansour, al-Beblawi and al-Sisi. Egypt's powerful army ousted Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, on July 3 following mass protests against his regime. It subsequently suspended the constitution and named Mansour, the head of Egypt's constitutional court, as interim president. Thousands of Morsi supporters have since taken to the streets nationwide in mass demonstrations and sit-ins to defend his legitimacy and demand his reinstatement. While countries like Turkey and Tunisia describe what happened as a military coup, the Obama administration has avoided the term because under US law this would mean an automatic halt of the $1.3 billion Egypt gets every year in military aid. But Washington has called for the release of Morsi, who has not been seen in public ever since his ouster while his whereabouts remain under wraps. The US and Germany have urged the Egyptian army to free the deposed president.