Ban Ki-moon urges top regional diplomats to discuss Egypt

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called a number of regional leaders to express his "grave concern" and "deep alarm" about the situation in Egypt and the "unacceptable" loss of life during the past two days, and to urge the interim Egyptian authorities to swiftly launch an inclusive political process, his press office said in a statement late Sunday. Ban expressed his feelings and shared his thoughts in separate phone calls with his Arab League counterpart Nabil Al-Araby, Egyptian Interim Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, and Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid Bin Mohammad Al Attiyah. In all those calls, the statement said, Ban shared his "deep alarm about the situation in Egypt, and the unacceptable loss of life over the past two days," and underlined the "need for the interim Egyptian authorities to quickly step up their efforts to launch a genuinely inclusive political process." Ban informed his interlocutors that he had been appealing to all Egyptian leaders to urge their supporters to show restraint, curb their anger, and try to engage in a meaningful reconciliation process, and reiterated the importance of immediately releasing former President Mohammed Morsi and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders, or having their cases reviewed in the fullest transparency. In his call to ElBaradei, Ban expressed his "profound concern" about the direction in which the transition in Egypt is moving, "strongly condemned" the upsurge of violence in Egypt that has led to the deaths of so many, and underlined that with every new death this long-term "reconciliation becomes harder." Reiterating his calls for the interim authorities to launch a genuinely inclusive, peaceful political process for going forward, Ban called on the interim authorities to assume full responsibility for the peaceful management of the demonstrations and to ensure the protection of all Egyptians, regardless of party affiliation. Ban appealed to all Egyptian leaders to urge their supporters to show restraint, and to put the interest of their country above individual, group, and political interests in order to start a meaningful reconciliation process.