Egypt’s el-Sissi: No reconciliation with Islamists

Published 1:16 pm Sunday, June 8, 2014

CAIRO — Egypt’s newly sworn-in president has vowed there will not be any reconciliation with anyone who had “committed crimes” or “adopted violence” against Egyptians, a thinly veiled reference to the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists.

Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi was addressing a gathering at a Cairo presidential palace late Sunday, hours after he was sworn in as Egypt’s president before the Supreme Constitutional Court.

The 59-year-old career soldier did not mention the Muslim Brotherhood by name or supporters of the Islamist Mohammed Morsi, the president he ousted in July after just a year in office.

Since Morsi’s ouster, authorities have staged a massive crackdown against the Brotherhood and other Islamists, killing hundreds and jailing close to 20,000 others. The government has banned the Brotherhood and labeled it a terrorist organization.