CAIRO
The European Union is not playing a mediating role between Egypt's army-backed government and the embattled Muslim Brotherhood, the head of an E.U. mission in Cairo said Thursday.
James Moran told reporters in Cairo that Egypt's rival camps were not ready to seek European help, going on to dismiss the likelihood that they would request E.U. mediation in the short-term future.
Egypt has been plagued by political polarization since the army ousted Mohamed Morsi, the country's first freely elected leader, last July on the back of massive protests against his presidency.
Since then, the military-backed government has launched a massive crackdown on Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group, accusing it of sponsoring deadly attacks on security forces – an allegation the group vehemently denies.
E.U. foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton visited Egypt four times since Morsi's ouster.
At one point, she met Morsi himself – then being held at an undisclosed location – along with interim government officials in hopes of breaking the political deadlock.
The European Union is set to monitor Egypt's upcoming presidential elections, which are scheduled for May 26-27.
The two presidential contenders are former army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi – who led Morsi's forcible removal from office – and leftist politician Hamdeen Sabbahi, who came in at third place in the 2012 polls that propelled Morsi to power.
The presidential elections are part of a three-step transitional roadmap imposed by the army upon Morsi's ouster, which also calls for parliamentary polls later this year.
By Mohamed Rammah
englishnews@aa.com.tr
