CAIRO, December 9, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News
Agencies) Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has set as a condition a state
supervision over any possible dialogue with the United States, after the
group's stunning performance in the country's month-long parliamentary
elections.
It should take place under the supervision of the
Egyptian Foreign Ministry, Mohamed Habib, the first deputy of the Muslim
Brotherhood Guide-General, told IslamOnline.net Friday, December
9.
The officially banned but tolerated Muslim Brotherhood
won 88 seats in Egypt's parliamentary elections, six times the number of
MPs it had in the outgoing chamber.
By clinching almost 20 percent of parliamentary seats,
the group made the most serious dent in President Hosni Mubarak's
24-year-old autocratic rule.
Habib said the group would first look into the
proposed agenda for dialogue with Washington.
"It must include the pressing issues related to
developments in the region as well as the Islamic issues," Habib said,
referring to the fierce anti-Islam campaigns in the West.
He added the US administration should also avoid
interfering in the affairs of countries in the region.
"Every country has its own characteristics and any
foreign interference sparks many troubles," he told IOL.
In March 2004, the Muslim Brotherhood rejected the
US-proposed Greater Middle East Initiative.
Egypts reform agenda should come from within, Habib
had said then.
Habib's comments Friday, December 9, were in response
to reports that Washington has signaled possible contacts with the Muslim
Brotherhood after its strong showing in the parliamentary
polls.
Possible Contacts
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Ereli, however, said the United
States would respect Egyptian law prohibiting contacts with the
Muslim Brotherhood as an organization.
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A senior State Department official suggested US
officials might be in touch with victorious members of the Muslim
Brotherhood, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported Thursday, December
8.
"I would expect us to meet with the independent
candidates," the official told reporters on condition of
anonymity.
Washington, however, has refused to acknowledge the
group's strong showing, recognizing only that an unprecedented number of
"independents" had won in the polls despite widespread violence and
intimidation.
Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) has
maintained its grip on power, having won, along with affiliated
independents, a total of 314 seats in the 444-member
legislature.
"Broadening Opposition"
Deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli, however,
said the United States would respect Egyptian law prohibiting contacts
with the Muslim Brotherhood as an organization.
He stressed that winning Brotherhood candidates were
elected as independents.
Asked if Washington would deal with them, he said,
"There's no injunction that I'm aware of that would prevent
that."
Without mentioning the Muslim Brotherhood, the US
spokesman hailed the parliamentary elections in Egypt as producing a
"historic" broadening of opposition and independent representation in the
parliament.
"We think that's going to have a substantial impact on
political life in Egypt. And that's positive," Ereli said.
"That's a sign that pluralism and democracy has taken
a step forward in Egypt."
The growing political clout of Islamic groups has put
Washington in something of a quandary, caught between supporting
democratic processes and a refusal to have dealings with Islamic groups,
allegedly linked to violence.
The problem has been particularly sharp with
resistance groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the
Palestinian territories, which have both scored well on the political
front despite their US label as terrorists.
A memo drawn up by the US State Department has
recently called for direct and permanent political dialogue with the
Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
The Muslim Brotherhood had earlier denied that the
group had been locked in talks with the US, stressing that the Muslim
Brotherhood rejected any reform recipe from abroad.
