Initiative calls for national reconciliation to include Muslim Brotherhood

Activists propose reconciliation initiative in keeping with the 3 July roadmap, including investigating reported recent violations by security forces

Several activists have released a statement detailing an initiative to end the current political crisis and reach reconciliation that accepts all political factions, including the Muslim Brotherhood.
Led by Constitution Party member and former spokesperson of the National Salvation Front (NSF) Khaled Dawoud, the initiative seeks to form a Supreme Committee for National Reconciliation, as suggested in the 3 July roadmap, that would include representatives of different political orientations.
Dawoud, who resigned from the NSF earlier last month objecting to its stand on the dispersal of the sit-ins in support of ousted president Mohamed Morsi at Rabaa Al-Adawiya and Al-Nahda squares in Nasr City and Giza respectively, spearheaded the initiative, stating that a “security solution cannot accomplish stability, regain security or move towards the goals of the January 25 Revolution."
The initiative statement says that the Muslim Brotherhood's recent declarations have shown that the group has started “recognising that 30 June was an expression of public anger towards Morsi's policies which sidelined everyone except for the organisation's loyalists."
The initiative proposes that the Brotherhood — “to prove goodwill” — should freeze their protests for several days, giving time for the Supreme Committee for National Reconciliation to collect the proposals of different political factions.
Meanwhile, the initiative would hold to the belief that no reconciliation can be accomplished if any faction is excluded or criminalised, insisting that forcing any political group to work underground would only benefit “militant groups.”
In parallel, and if the Brotherhood agree to freeze protests, the initiative further proposes that Interim Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi work with NGOs to investigate security violations during the dispersal of the sit-ins, as well as violence involving members of the Brotherhood at the organisation's Muqattam headquarters, in Bein El-Sarayat, Manial, Giza and Sidi Gaber in Alexandria, as well as other locations.
The initiative statement calls on Interim President Adly Mansour to use available legal methods to release those randomly arrested during the sit-in dispersals, especially underage girls as well as women.
It also called on the interior ministry to abide by the law during arrests and demanded that NGOs be allowed to visit prisons.
The Muslim Brotherhood and their supporters have been staging protests on a daily basis since the dispersal of the two pro-Morsi sit-ins 14 August, when over 600 were killed in subsequent clashes. Over 1,800 Morsi loyalists have been arrested since the dispersal.
In addition to Dawoud, the initiative has also been signed by several members of the April 6 Democratic Front and the Justice and Freedom Youth.
A similar initiative has been proposed by Egypt's deputy prime minister, Ziad Bahaa El-Din.
Bahaa El-Din's initiative included rejectionof violence and respect for places of worship and freedom of religion. It opposes the exclusion of any political or ideological currents in Egypt as long as those groups abide by the law. It also insists on moving forward with Egypt's "roadmap" to a new constitution followed by free and fair parliamentary and presidential elections.The initiative also demanded an end to the state of emergency declared by the interim president 14 August.
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