• February 22, 2006
  • 2 minutes read

Brotherhood Denies Meeting With Rice

Brotherhood Denies Meeting With Rice

Within her 24-hour visit to Egypt, the American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with several civil society organizations. Some press reports talked about an indirect participation by the Muslin Brotherhood’; a matter that the Brotherhood’s deputy leader Dr. Mohamed Habib denied, asserting that the group did not receive any invitation to participate.
 
Habib emphatically stressed that the Brotherhood’s stance in this respect is explicit and invariable. We have repeatedly affirmed that we do not refuse dialogue. However, any formal talks with foreign government officials or entities should be conducted through the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. Meanwhile, we welcome unconditioned dialogue with anybody else.
 
Underlining the group’s impression of the US Administration, Habib said the US has several problems with its foreign policy in the Arab and Islamic worlds, its double-standard approach and lack of transparency are the most significant. In addition to US inconsistency; when it advocates the promotion of democracy, nevertheless, supports autocratic oppresive regimes. In Palestine, for example, when the democratic elections, hailed by the US, brought Hamas to power, the administration did not accept its outcome and exerted significant pressure on the elected power punishing Palestinians for their democratic choice.