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Egyptian Opposition: U.S. Sec'y Of State John Kerry Is Interfering In Egypt's Internal Affairs; Egyptian Poet: Egypt Is Becoming Another Afghanistan; Egyptian Nubian Leader Hints At Armed Operations Against Muslim Brotherhood

Tuesday, 5 March, 2013 18:07

	MEMRI Daily: March 5, 2013   MEMRI | MEMRI TV | JIHAD AND TERRORISM THREAT MONITOR | SOUTH ASIA STUDIES PROJECT
	Egyptian Opposition: U.S. Sec'y Of State John Kerry Is Interfering In Egypt's Internal Affairs Egyptian Poet Abd Al-Rahman Al-Abnoudi: Egypt Is Becoming Another Afghanistan Egyptian Nubian Leader Hints At Armed Operations Against Muslim Brotherhood Special Dispatch No. 5218 Egyptian Opposition: U.S. Sec'y Of State John Kerry Is Interfering In Egypt's Internal Affairs Newly appointed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's first visit to Egypt in his present capacity, on March 2-3, 2013, was met with objections from most opposition elements in the country. These elements expressed their displeasure at February 28, 2013 statements by a U.S. State Department spokesman that "the U.S. position is...  that we encourage all political parties and individuals with an interest in representing the Egyptian people to participate in [the parliamentary] elections" planned for April 2013. These statements were perceived as a call to the opposition to reverse its decision to boycott the elections. Opposition spokesmen perceived Kerry's visit as an American attempt to pressure the opposition, describing this as unacceptable interference in Egypt's internal affairs and as American backing to the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) regime led by President Muhammad Mursi. Even before Kerry's March 2, 2013 arrival in Cairo, some opposition circles announced that they would greet him with protests, and would pelt him with tomatoes and eggs. The National Association for Change, founded by Mohammad ElBaradei – one of the heads of the National Salvation Front, which is the umbrella organization of the Egyptian opposition – called Kerry a persona non grata in Egypt, and held a demonstration on March 3 outside the Egyptian Foreign Ministry in protest against the American call to the opposition to participate in the elections. During the demonstration, protestors burned a drawing of Kerry with an Islamic-style beard that was captioned "Brother Kerry in Egypt."    Photos from the March 3 demonstration Click here to read the full report. Special Dispatch No. 5217 Egyptian Poet Abd Al-Rahman Al-Abnoudi: Egypt Is Becoming Another Afghanistan Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian poet Abd Al-Rahman Al-Abnoudi, which aired on Dream 2 TV on February 10, 2013. Click here to view this clip on MEMRI TV. Abd Al-Rahman Al-Abnoudi: "I used to like Tunisia very much. I would see how tourism was thriving there, and the people were familiar with French and European literature… They opened my eyes to Saint-John Perse, and other great poets and novelists. I learnt all this from the Tunisians. "Today, you see there men wearing robes all the way down to here… It is as if they just emerged from a cave in Tora Bora. They took over Tunisia. They are like the Mongols." Click here to read the full report. Special Dispatch No. 5216 Egyptian Nubian Leader Hints At Armed Operations Against Muslim Brotherhood Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian Nubian leader Osama Farouq, which aired on Dream 2 TV on January 12, 2013. Click here to view this clip on MEMRI TV. Osama Farouq: "Kitala emerged due to the increasing abuse by the Freedom and Justice Party, and its efforts to marginalize the Nubians, erase their identity, and embarrass them. Despite all the oppression, abuse, and marginalization that we have suffered over the past 100 years, we had hoped that the revolution would be successful and would bring to power a just leader, who would take care of our problems. "However, on many occasions, the Muslim Brotherhood has revealed that it is a colonialist movement. They did many things, such as shutting down this very TV channel. "In response, we have decided to say: We have behaved in a civilized manner for 100 years. No more." Click here to read the full report. Please remember the environment before printing.