Cairo: Egypt’s opposition leader Mohammad Al Baradei on Wednesday called for immediate talks with President Mohammad Mursi to discuss “urgent steps” to stop deadly unrest in the country — a volte-face in the prominent reformist’s stance towards the Islamist president.
Al Baradei, an outspoken critic of Mursi, proposed in a tweet a “prompt meeting” that he said should be attended by ministers of defence and the interior as well as leaders from the ruling Muslim Brotherhood, ultra-conservative Salafists and the opposition.
The call was floated shortly after Mursi left Egypt for a one-day visit to Germany. The proposal also comes two days after the main opposition bloc, the National Salvation Front, led by Al Baradei, rejected a call made by Mursi to hold “national dialogue” talks.
The Front, a grouping of mostly liberal and leftist politicians, on Monday demanded Mursi first to take responsibility for days of fatal violence in the country, suspend the newly approved constitution and sack a public prosecutor he appointed last November. The bloc, who called for massive protests against Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood from which he hails, also demanded an Islamist-backed cabinet be replaced with a national unity government.
Around 50 Egyptians were killed in six days of violent protests, which started on the second anniversary of an uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak and cleared the way for Mursi’s election as Egypt’s first civilian president. The opposition accuses Mursi of acting at the Brotherhood’s behest and betraying the anti-Mubarak revolt.
