Tunis ready to mediate in Egyptian crisis

The Ruling coalition in Tunis said on Thursday that it is ready to play the role of mediator to lessen the tensions that have erupted in Egypt in the wake of the recent massacre. The carnage was carried out by the army outside of the Republican Guards Club following the deposition of elected president Mohamed Morsi.

A statement from the coalition, which includes the Ennahda Islamic movement alongside another two secularist parties, said: “The bloc is ready to offer anything which may lessen the tension in the sister state of Egypt and to reach national reconciliation that serves the country and the nation.”

According to the statement, “the ruling coalition in Tunis expresses its deep concern about the sad incidents taking place in Egypt, and calls on all Egyptian political parties to stop bloodshed and respect the popular will of the Egyptians.”

Tunis views what happened in Egypt as a military coup, and its view for national reconciliation is based on “returning to the constitutional legitimacy reached through a democratic process following the January 25 revolution.”

The Tunisian view to solving the problem is to reach an agreed upon legitimacy rather that the interference of the military institution to supersede the legitimacy reached through elections.

In a meeting with the Tunisian ambassador to Cairo, the Egyptian foreign ministry objected to the Tunisian president calling what is happening in Egypt a ‘military coup’. “It is interference in internal Egyptian issues and contradicts the positive relations between nations of both countries,” the foreign ministry said.

In return, Tunisia told the Egyptian ambassador to Tunis that its position is “sovereign and is based on the bases of democracy.”