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 EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton's two-hour meeting with Morsi late Monday marked the first contact the ousted Islamist leader has had with the outside world since he was overthrown by a military coup on July 3.
Egypt's army-backed administration originally said they were holding him for his own safety, but last week authorities announced he was being detained pending an investigation. His supporters and family have decried his detention as illegal and call for his release.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Ashton said Morsi "has access to information, in terms of TV and newspapers, so we were able to talk about the situation, and we were able to talk about the need to move forward." She declined to reveal anything further about their conversation.
"I sent him good wishes from people here, and he asked me to pass on wishes back, and of course I've tried to make sure that his family knows that he is well," she said.
Ashton said she was able to see the facilities where Morsi is being held, but that she does not know where he is.
Since the coup, which followed days of mass protests by millions of Egyptians calling for Morsi's ouster, the former president has been detained by the military at an undisclosed location. A group of Egyptian rights activists was allowed access to Morsi this week but he refused to see them.
On Friday, prosecutors said Morsi was facing accusations of conspiring with the Palestinian Hamas group to escape from prison during the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Egypt's interim presidency says he "is not a political prisoner" and that the issue is in the hands of the judiciary.
Ashton's trip to Cairo is her second since the military coup, as she tries to help find a way out of an increasingly bloody and complex crisis in Egypt that has killed more than 270 people since Morsi was deposed.
During her visit, she has met with the country's interim leadership, including army chief and Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, as well as representatives of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood in search of a path out of the crisis.
"This great country has to move forward and has to do so in an inclusive way," she said.
She said that has made clear to all sides of the conflict that "there is no place for violence in this and that peaceful demonstration is important." She said authorities also "have a huge responsibly to make sure that happens."
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 "I also, as I've indicated, have made clear that we're talking with a breadth of people, not because we're coming up with great ideas, but because we want to help facilitate the bringing together of ideas the people here have."
"I am not here to ask people to do things," she added. "I am here to find out where the common ground might be, the confidence-building measures could be, that can help everybody move forward."
There was no immediate sign that either side of Egypt's deep political divide is willing to heed her appeals. The Brotherhood has rejected calls to work with the new leaders, insists that Morsi must be reinstated and has vowed to keep up its nearly daily protests until he is. The group has called for new mass demonstrations later Tuesday.
The government, meanwhile, has made no conciliatory gestures and has forged ahead with a transition plan that provides for parliamentary and presidential elections early next year.
After their talks with Ashton, a delegation of Islamist politicians representing the pro-Morsi camp said the military-backed government must take the first step toward any reconciliation by releasing jailed Brotherhood leaders, ending the crackdown on their protests and stopping media campaigns against Islamists.
"Creating the atmosphere requires those in authority now to send messages of reassurance," Mohammed Mahsoub, of the Islamist Wasat Party, told reporters.
Speaking alongside a Brotherhood official and another Islamist politician, Mahsoub appeared to be sticking by the demand to reinstate Morsi by saying any solution must be on a "constitutional basis."
But a spokesman for military-backed interim President Adly Mansour suggested Monday that there would be no deviation from the transition plan.
When asked about reconciliation initiatives on the table, Ahmed el-Muslemani said: "The ship has sailed and we have no way but to go forward."
[Associated
Press; By AYA BATRAWY]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
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