During a visit to Geneva that ended last Friday, a delegation of Egyptian activists held high-level meetings with United Nations officials to discuss the situation in Egypt. “This visit is part of popular diplomacy efforts to provide the international community with a better understanding of what has been happening in Egypt since 30 June,” said Amir Salem, an activist and member of the delegation. According to Salem, the delegation met with senior officials at the United Nations Human Rights Council and the International Labour Organisation and with various human rights NGOs. Meetings were also organised with the ambassadors of the Arab countries in Geneva. “Our mission was to confront the unjust campaign that has been launched against Egypt and to convince the world that the majority of Egyptians support the state's war against terrorism. We provided evidence that the 30 June events were not a coup but were a genuine revolution,” said Fouad Riad, an international law professor and member of the delegation. “Egypt has got to this stage because of [ousted former president Mohamed] Morsi's policies that led to the revolution against his rule and that of the Muslim Brotherhood. This was our main message in Geneva,” Riad added. The visit was organised by the Move to Protect the Republic and the National Initiative for Positive Interaction, both campaign groups. Mervat Al-Tellawi, former chairperson of the National Council for Women, headed the delegation, which included Mohamed Salmawy, president of the Egyptian Writers Union, Tahani Al-Gebali, a lawyer, Ali Al-Ghateet, an expert on international law, and Naguib Abadeer from the Free Egyptians Party, among others. Salem said that many international officials get information on what was happening in Egypt from the Western media, leading to serious misconceptions. During the meetings, members of the delegation showed videos and photographs that proved that the Muslim Brotherhood protests had not been peaceful. The presentations included images of the attacks against churches that took place across Egypt after the dispersal of the Rabaa Al-Adaweya sit-in on 14 August. The delegation provided evidence of how the Muslim Brotherhood has used women and children as human shields during clashes with the police over recent weeks. Videos also showed how Brotherhood leaders had urged their supporters to fight the army and the police. “We tried to inform the UN officials of the facts on ground which indicate that the Muslim Brotherhood had a real intention to use violence against the Egyptian people and government,” Riad said, adding that explaining that the police and the army had acted according to the law when ending the pro-Morsi sit-ins had been a priority for the delegation. Salem noted that the delegation had been informed that the Brotherhood had hired a public-relations agency one year ago, signing a contract worth millions of dollars, to promote the group across Europe. This agency had been working over recent months to try to convince the West that what had happened in Egypt was a “coup” and not a revolution. “We were surprised to find that both Qatar and Turkey had launched orchestrated campaigns in the West to promote the idea that the Egyptian military and police were committing massacres against peaceful protesters and that they were calling for a UN investigation into what happened in Egypt,” Salem said. He said that he had contacted the prime minister's office upon his return to Egypt to urge the government to approve a request made a few years ago by the UN Human Rights Council to open an office in Egypt. “They complained that they did not have enough sources of information about what was happening in Egypt, and opening an office would solve this problem, especially since Egypt hosts the offices of most other UN agencies,” he said. Another popular diplomacy delegation concluded a visit to Brussels two weeks ago, where it met with Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign affairs head, as well as with other senior officials to explain the political situation in Egypt ahead of the EU's foreign ministers meeting on 21 August. The delegation emphasised the right of Egyptians to build their own state institutions, explaining the anger that had been felt in the country at European failure to respect their will to build a democratic state and implement the roadmap agreed upon with the interim government. The delegation included Salmawy, Saadeddin Ibrahim, founder of the Ibn Khaldun Centre for Development Studies, businessman Naguib Sawiris and legal activist Mona Zul-Faqqar. Following its meeting on 21 August, the EU called on the Egyptian government to exercise restraint and condemned acts of terrorism such as the murder of policemen in Sinai, the destruction of churches and the targeting of the Coptic community, and attacks on government buildings and museums. It called on all Egyptians to halt the cycle of violence and to refrain from actions that could incite further violence, including provocations and hate speech. It urged all the country's political parties to engage in real and inclusive dialogue in order to restore a democratic process that would respond to the legitimate demands and aspirations of the Egyptian people. “We tried to convince the EU foreign policy chief to adopt a balanced policy and to show support for the Egyptian people's will, which was expressed during the 30 June and 4 July protests against Morsi,” said Ibrahim. He added that the meeting had lasted for two hours and that it had been held a day before the EU foreign ministers meeting on Egypt. “Ashton expressed her understanding of Egyptian frustration with the failures of the Muslim Brotherhood over the last year. However, she said that the EU could not turn a blind eye to what she called the ‘use of excessive force' in ending the pro-Morsi sit-ins,” Ibrahim added.
