US official meets with Egypt's Islamic Brotherhood
AP
CAIRO (AP) â U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns has met with leaders of Egypt's largest Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, poised to dominate the country's new parliament.
The meeting marks an effort by the U.S. government to reach out to the Brotherhood after decades of shunning the movement.
The Brotherhood's party has won more than 40 percent of the seats in the incoming parliament, scheduled to convene on Jan. 23. Its main task is to appoint a 100-member panel to write a new constitution.
Mohammed Morsi, head of the Brotherhood's political party, told Burns during the Wednesday meeting that there is a consensus on civic freedoms and rights for the new constitution, according to a statement from Morsi's office.
The Brotherhood favors a mixed of presidential and parliamentary system.
AP
CAIRO (AP) â U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns has met with leaders of Egypt's largest Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, poised to dominate the country's new parliament.
The meeting marks an effort by the U.S. government to reach out to the Brotherhood after decades of shunning the movement.
The Brotherhood's party has won more than 40 percent of the seats in the incoming parliament, scheduled to convene on Jan. 23. Its main task is to appoint a 100-member panel to write a new constitution.
Mohammed Morsi, head of the Brotherhood's political party, told Burns during the Wednesday meeting that there is a consensus on civic freedoms and rights for the new constitution, according to a statement from Morsi's office.
The Brotherhood favors a mixed of presidential and parliamentary system.