US Reaches Out To Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood
By Agence France-Presse
Sunday, January 8, 2012
A once reluctant United States is reaching out to the Muslim Brotherhood in a nod to Egypt’s new political reality, but concerns linger about the group’s attitude toward minorities, women and the peace treaty with Israel.
In the wake of president Hosni Mubarak’s ouster last February, the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood’s political arm, has claimed the lead in the final stage of parliamentary elections after leading throughout.
Liberal and secular opposition parties have fared poorly.
“It’s clear that they (the Brotherhood) are now the only game in town,” and US officials must talk to them, said Marina Ottaway, who heads the Middle East program in Washington for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Even before the elections began, the United States knew it had to deal with the Muslim Brotherhood, the best organized political movement in an Egypt which is no longer dominated by Mubarak’s National Democratic Party.
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