White House calls for calm in Egypt

http://www.politico.com

As protests continued in Egypt on Wednesday, the White House declined to take sides in the conflict, noting that the United States has an important relationship with Egypt, but called for all sides to refrain from violence. When asked at a White House briefing if President Obama supports Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, press secretary Jay Carney said, "The president has an important relationship, well, the United States has a very important relationship with Egypt. The president has worked effectively with President Morsi on key issues, including recently the negotiated ceasefire in Gaza. We are monitoring the situation." Carney did not say whether Obama has spoken with Morsi or taken any other action. A White House official later confirmed to POLITICO that the president did stop by a meeting between national security adviser Tom Donilon and Morsi adviser Issam Al-Haddad. The official did not say what they spoke about. Protests in Cairo turned violent for a second day Wednesday, with protestors supporting and opposing Morsi throwing fire bombs and rocks at each other outside the presidential palace, CBS reported. The opposition demonstrators want Morsi to rescind declarations he made exempting himself from judicial oversight and to throw away a draft constitution quickly passed by his allies last week. Carney said the administration thinks dialogue between all Egyptians is "urgently necessary." "It must be a two-way dialogue that includes a respectful exchange of the concerns of the Eyptian people themselves about the constitutional process and the substance of their constitution. The Egyptian people want and deserve a constitutional process that is open, transparaent and fair and does not unduly favor one group over any other," he said. He added that most demonstrations so far have been large but "generally peaceful." " As Egyptians continue to express their views, we look to the government of Egypt to respect freedoms of peaceful expression and assembly and to exercise restraint. We also continue to call on demonstrators and political parties to take all possible measures to avoid confrontation and violence."