Clinton: Egypt’s leaders must settle differences
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday urged Egypt’s Islamist president and its military to settle their differences for the good of Egypt’s people, or risk seeing their nation’s democratic transition derailed.
Egypt’s newly elected President Mohammed Morsi is locked in conflict with the powerful military over whether the country’s legislature should reconvene after a court ruling last month dissolved it. It’s the latest crisis in nearly 17 months of political drama since last year’s overthrow of longtime leader Hosni Mubarak.
Speaking in Vietnam, Clinton refused to take sides in the simmering dispute. She cited Egypt’s progress, as evidenced by competitive elections and the first popularly elected president in the country’s “very long history.” But she stressed that much more needed to be done.