Egyptian govt to say mediation failed

MISSION NOT ACCOMPLISHED

The latest developments made for a remarkable end to Graham and McCain's mission, undertaken at US President Barack Obama's request to help resolve the crisis in a country that is instrumental in Washington's Middle East policy.

After meeting army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, interim Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei and interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi, Graham told a news conference: "The people who are in charge were not elected. The people who were elected are in jail. The status quo is not acceptable."

They had also appealed to the Brotherhood, many of whose leaders have been jailed, including Mursi, to avoid resorting to violence and to join the dialogue.

But it was the description of Mursi's overthrow as a coup that hit a raw Egyptian nerve.

The definition is hotly disputed by the rival sides, with the military and its civilian supporters saying it was acting at the behest of millions of Egyptians who had taken to the streets to demand Musri leave office.

The word coup, which US officials had studiously avoided, could under US law trigger a cutoff of the $1.3 billion US military aid Egypt receives each year.

However McCain did say that "cutting off aid would be the wrong signal at the wrong time."

A spokesman for the interim government, Sherief Shawki, told Reuters it would stick by its transition plan. He also rejected the call to release jailed Brotherhood members, saying they would be dealt with by the courts.

Mursi took power in June 2012, 16 months after the overthrow of US-backed strongman Hosni Mubarak, who had ruled for nearly 30 years.

Fears he was trying to establish an Islamist autocracy, coupled with a failure to ease economic hardships afflicting most of Egypt's 84 million people, led to mass street demonstrations, triggering the army move.

Almost 300 people have been killed in political violence since the overthrow, including 80 shot dead by security forces on July 27.

McCain said the senators also met members of Mursi's Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.

On Monday, US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and European Union envoy Bernardino Leon met jailed Brotherhood deputy leader Khairat El-Shater in the prison where he is held.

They tried to persuade him to recognise that there was no realistic prospect of Mursi being reinstated and to accept a political compromise. A Brotherhood spokesman said Shater had insisted they should be talking to Mursi and the only solution was the "reversal of the coup".