UN: Egypt needs 'maximum restraint'

The UN Security Council is calling on both the Egyptian government and the Muslim Brotherhood to exercise “maximum restraint” and end the violence spreading across the country.

UN: Egypt needs 'maximum restraint'

The UN Security Council is calling on both the Egyptian government and the Muslim Brotherhood to exercise “maximum restraint” and end the violence spreading across the country.

The Muslim Brotherhood has called for millions of Egyptians to join what they are calling a "march of anger" in Cairo.

More than 600 people died when government security forces clashed with supporters of the former President who was ousted by the military.

The country's interior ministry has ordered security forces to use live ammunition if government buildings are targeted by protesters.

UN Council members called for national reconciliation, expressed regret at the loss of life and sent sympathy to the victims.

Argentina’s UN ambassador Maria Cristina Perceval, the current council president, expressed the views of council members following an emergency briefing by Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson on Egypt’s violence.

The meeting came after Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the West of ignoring the violence and called on the Security Council to meet urgently to discuss the situation.

Britain, France and Australia, all council members, jointly requested the council meeting.

UN diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity earlier, said they did not expect the council to issue a statement or adopt a resolution.

Whether the council takes any action in the future is uncertain. Russia and China traditionally oppose Security Council involvement in the domestic affairs of a country, partly because of sensitivity over disputes in their own countries, including in Chechnya and Tibet.

Argentina has condemned “the brutal repression against popular protests that won the streets of the main cities of Egypt”. It urged authorities to “totally and immediately cease the spiral of violence loosed in recent days against unarmed citizens”.

Ms Perceval's comments were not a formal statement and represent the lowest-level response from the UN's most powerful body, a reflection of serious differences among the 15 council members on how to respond to the escalating crisis in Egypt.

She said: “Members first of all expressed their sympathy to the victims and regretted the loss of life. The view of council members is that it’s important to end violence in Egypt, that the parties exercise maximum restraint. And there was a common desire on the need to stop violence and to advance national reconciliation.”

Diplomats said several council members had pressed for the adoption of a press statement that condemned the violence but China was opposed. In the end even softer language deploring the violence was dropped, the diplomats said.

Mr Eliasson told reporters as he left the meeting that his briefing “built” on the statement that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made on Wednesday.

The UN chief condemned “in the strongest terms” the violence used by Egyptian security forces to clear demonstrators supporting ousted president Mohammed Morsi and expressed regret that the authorities chose to used force instead of listening to his earlier plea to prevent further loss of life.

He also urged all Egyptians to concentrate on promoting reconciliation.

Diplomats said Mr Eliasson called the situation in Egypt “extremely volatile”.

Ms Perceval also reiterated Argentina’s condemnation of “the coup d’etat” against Mr Morsi and Wednesday’s “brutal repression against popular demonstrations that filled the streets of the main cities of Egypt”.

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